NER: Characterizing and Modeling Magnetic Tunnel Junction Devices for a Spintronics-based Processor

本研究的目的是证明使用基于自旋电子学的磁性隧道结器件实现复杂数字系统的可行性。该方法是在NSF支持的明尼苏达大学纳米制造中心使用研究人员先前展示的原型磁性隧道结器件设计和制造一位全加器。与此同时，制造过程中，一个多操作位串行功能单元，将利用磁门的可编程性将被设计和模拟。这个初步可行性研究的最终目标是设计一个功能齐全的处理器完全从这些新的非电荷为基础的自旋电子器件。该项目的主要智力价值是新技术和电路的发展，这将导致理解如何构建复杂的计算元件从磁性隧道结门。对这一新兴技术的创新利用将大大扩展对自旋电子器件的理解，最终将该技术的潜在优势纳入未来的系统。由于这项工作具有高度探索性，工业界不太可能进行这项工作。然而，它有巨大的希望，以帮助推动未来的计算趋势，使它非常适合政府的支持。更广泛的影响，这一项目包括多学科培训的新一代研究人员，强调设备制造和计算，并为代表性不足的群体参与一个令人兴奋的新的研究领域的机会。现有的合作将有助于将该项目中开发的新技术快速转移到工业领域。

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the feasibility of using spintronics-based magnetic tunnel junction devices to implement complex digital systems. The approach is to design and fabricate a single-bit full adder at the NSF-supported University of Minnesota Nanofabrication Center using the prototype magnetic tunnel junction devices previously demonstrated by the investigators. Concurrently with this fabrication process, a multi-operation bit-serial function unit that will take advantage of the programmability of the magnetic gates will be designed and simulated. The ultimate goal beyond this initial feasibility study is to design a fully functional processor entirely from these novel non-charge-based spintronics devices.The primary intellectual merit of this project is the development of new techniques and circuits that will lead to an understanding of how to construct complex computational elements from the magnetic tunnel junction gates. The innovative exploitation of this emerging technology will significantly expand the understanding of spintronics devices to eventually incorporate the potential advantages of this technology into future systems. Due to the highly exploratory nature of this work, it is unlikely that it would be pursued by industry. Yet it holds tremendous promise to help drive future computing trends, making it very appropriate for government support.Broader impacts of this project include multidisciplinary training of a new generation of researchers that emphasizes both device fabrication and computing, and opportunities for underrepresented groups to participate in an exciting new research area. Existing collaborations will help to quickly transfer to industry the novel technology developed in this project.