Collaborative Research: Reversible Computing and Reservoir Computing with Magnetic Skyrmions for Energy-Efficient Boolean Logic and Artificial Intelligence Hardware

随着计算机在整个社会中的日益普及，导致计算机消耗的能量急剧增加，迫切需要提高计算机的能量效率。除了最大限度地减少计算机能源消耗造成的经济和环境成本外，提高计算机的能源效率还将提高计算能力，对整个社会产生有益的影响。因此，该项目将设计和实验演示具有极高能效的计算系统，用于高性能计算和人工智能。这种极端的能源效率将通过利用磁skyrmions来实现，磁skyrmions是磁性准粒子，已被预测适用于可逆计算范式中的节能传统计算以及通过水库计算范式的节能人工智能。该项目将大大推动具有极高能效的计算机的开发，从而减少环境危害，促进经济发展，并实现需要最小功耗的革命性计算应用。该项目还将通过纳入本科生研究参与者和研究生从设备到系统的垂直培训对劳动力发展产生有益的影响。该项目将设计和实验演示具有磁性skyrmions的可逆和水库计算机。磁性Skyrmions是磁性旋转纹理的漩涡，一旦创建就受到能量保护。它们的尺寸可调，可以在室温下工作，并且对电流，电压和场具有动态响应，使它们成为未来计算范例的良好选择。基于在可逆和水库计算中有效使用skyrmions的PI的初步设计和模拟，该项目有四个主要目标。首先，将进行Skyrmion可逆计算机协同设计，以有效地驱动Skyrmion，确定最佳参数，并为Skyrmion可逆计算的未来制定路线图。其次，skyrmion可逆计算机制造将进行演示和分析skyrmion稳定性，电压驱动的skyrmion传播，skyrmion-Hall效应介导的skyrmion相互作用，和可逆skyrmion逻辑门。第三，将进行skyrmion油藏计算协同设计，以最大限度地提高油藏表现力和能源效率，确定最佳参数，并为skyrmion油藏计算的未来制定路线图。此外，将进行skyrmion水库计算机制造，以测量多skyrmion相互作用，通过钉扎位点控制可重复性，并展示和表征skyrmion水库计算机。该项目将推进薄膜磁性科学，提高对磁性纳米结构动力学的理解，为基于skyrmion的设备开发新的设备设计和制造方法，并开发和实施电路和系统以利用这些动力学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As the increasing pervasiveness of computers throughout society has led to drastic increases in the energy consumed by computers, there is a strong need to improve the energy efficiency of computers. In addition to minimizing the economic and environmental costs resulting from computer energy consumption, enhancing the energy efficiency of computers will also allow for increased computing capabilities with beneficial impacts throughout society. This project will therefore design and experimentally demonstrate computing systems with extreme energy efficiency, both for high-performance computing and for artificial intelligence. This extreme energy efficiency will be achieved by leveraging magnetic skyrmions, which are magnetic quasiparticles that have been predicted to be suitable for energy-efficient conventional computing in the reversible computing paradigm as well as for energy-efficient artificial intelligence through the reservoir computing paradigm. This project will significantly advance the development of computers with extreme energy efficiency, thereby reducing environmental harm, facilitating economic development, and enabling revolutionary computing applications that require minimal power dissipation. This project will also have beneficial impacts on workforce development through the inclusion of undergraduate research participants and the vertical training of graduate students from devices to systems.This project will design and experimentally demonstrate reversible and reservoir computers with magnetic skyrmions. Magnetic skyrmions are swirls of magnetic spin texture that are energy-protected once created. They are tunable in size, can operate at room temperature, and have dynamical response to current, voltage, and field, making them a good choice for use in future computing paradigms. Based on preliminary designs and simulations of the PIs on the efficient use of skyrmions in reversible and reservoir computing, this project has four main objectives. Firstly, skyrmion reversible computer co-design will be carried out to efficiently drive the skyrmions, to determine optimal parameters, and to develop a roadmap for the future of skyrmion reversible computing. Secondly, skyrmion reversible computer fabrication will be carried out to demonstrate and analyze skyrmion stability, voltage-driven skyrmion propagation, skyrmion interactions mediated by the skyrmion-Hall effect, and reversible skyrmion logic gates. Thirdly, skyrmion reservoir computing co-design will be carried out to maximize the reservoir expressivity and energy efficiency, to determine optimal parameters, and to develop a roadmap for the future of skyrmion reservoir computing. And fourthly, skyrmion reservoir computer fabrication will be carried out to measure multi-skyrmion interactions, to control repeatability through pinning sites, and to demonstrate and characterize skyrmion reservoir computers. This project will advance the science of thin film magnetism, improve understanding of the dynamics of magnetic nanostructures, develop new device designs and fabrication methods for skyrmion-based devices, and develop and implement circuits and systems to leverage those dynamics. This project will thus advance knowledge in materials, devices, and computing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.