Abstract
The search for a binary switch that is more energy-efficient than a transistor has led to many ideas, notable among which is the notion of using a nanomagnet with two stable magnetization orientations that will encode the binary bits 0 and 1. The nanomagnet is switched between them with electrically generated mechanical strain. A tiny amount of voltage is required for switching, with energy dissipation on the order of a few to few tens of aJ. Logic gates and memory, predicated on this technology, have been demonstrated in our group. While they indeed dissipate very little energy, they are unfortunately plagued by unacceptably high switching error probability that hinders their application in most types of Boolean logic. Fortunately, they can still be used in applications that are more forgiving of switching errors, e.g. probabilistic computing, analog arithmetic circuits, belief networks, artificial neurons, restricted Boltzmann machines, image processing, and others where the collective activity of many devices acting cooperatively elicit the computing or signal processing function and the failure of a single or few devices does not matter critically. These ultra-energy-efficient strain-switched nanomagnets can also be used for non-computing devices such as microwave oscillators that perform better than spin-torque-nano-oscillators. This short review provides an introduction to this exciting burgeoning field.
Highlights
Most practitioners of electrical engineering are familiar with how an electronic switch implemented with the celebrated metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) works
When charge carriers flood into the transistor’s channel region, the device switches on because a conducting path is established between the source and the drain contacts
In the case of an n-channel MOSFET, a positive voltage applied to the gate terminal sitting on top of the channel will pull electrons into the channel from the source and drain contacts by Coulomb attraction and turn the n-MOSFET on
Summary
Most practitioners of electrical engineering are familiar with how an electronic switch implemented with the celebrated metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) works. When charge carriers (electrons in an n-channel MOSFET and holes in a p-channel MOSFET) flood into the transistor’s channel region, the device switches on because a conducting path is established between the source and the drain contacts. Where t is the amount of time it takes to change the channel charge from Q1 to Q2, or vice versa This will cause energy dissipation of the amount. We are stuck with a minimum amount of energy delay product that we must tolerate as long as we work with a charge-based device. This could very well overwhelm thermal management in the chip and require exotic heat sinking technologies that would not be cost-effective It is a very serious menace and is the reason why we care about energy dissipation (or energydelay product) in a switch. It turns out that this general principle holds for magnetic devices that we will discuss
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