From Charge to Spin and Spin to Charge: Stochastic Magnets for Probabilistic Switching | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

From Charge to Spin and Spin to Charge: Stochastic Magnets for Probabilistic Switching


Abstract:

As the rapid pace of Moore’s Law has been slowing down, there has been intense activity to “reinvent the transistor.” An emerging paradigm is to complement the existing c...Show More

Abstract:

As the rapid pace of Moore’s Law has been slowing down, there has been intense activity to “reinvent the transistor.” An emerging paradigm is to complement the existing complementary metal-oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology with new functionalities, rather than finding a drop-in replacement for it. In this article, we discuss such a complementary approach that we call probabilistic spin logic (PSL) based on the concept of a probabilistic or p-bit. p-bits fluctuate between 0 and 1 and can be imagined in between deterministic bits that are either 0 or 1 and quantum bits that are a superposition of 0 and 1. Interconnected circuits built out of p-bits (p-circuits) can be broadly useful for machine learning and quantum computing in the solution of problems that conventional CMOS may not be particularly suited for. Although such p-bits can be implemented using standard CMOS technology, we will show that the inherent physics of nanomagnets can naturally provide an energy efficient and scalable p-bit implementation through the use of low-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). In this article, we provide a general description of p-bits and p-circuits and discuss their applications. We review experimental progress toward constructing p-bits and p-circuits exploiting the inherent stochasticity of nanomagnets, from a physics/device/circuits perspective. In particular, we identify building blocks for “write” and “read” operations that can be used in different combinations to construct functional p-bits and p-circuits. Finally, we discuss the prospects and challenges of PSL as an emerging, unconventional computing paradigm for a beyond CMOS era.
Published in: Proceedings of the IEEE ( Volume: 108, Issue: 8, August 2020)
Page(s): 1322 - 1337
Date of Publication: 12 February 2020

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