CAREER: Reliable and Fault Tolerant Super Energy Efficient Nanomagnetic Computing in the Presence of Thermal Noise

纳米磁逻辑和存储器已成为传统晶体管电路的强大替代品，因为多铁纳米磁铁，通过电力产生的应变(“应变”)进行开关，是一种比晶体管更节能的开关。然而，纳米磁逻辑在室温下极易出错，因为热波动会严重扰乱开关过程中的磁化动力学。为了使纳米磁逻辑可行，必须解决高错误率的问题，并找到解决方案来减轻其有害影响。该项目追求一种在不需要不切实际的片上纠错资源的情况下降低错误率的方法。这项研究可以使处理器采用极高能效的技术来构建，这些技术可以导致可植入的智能医疗设备、按钮大小的人脸识别系统、结构健康监测系统，以及可穿戴电子产品等消费应用。将开设一门关于纳米尺度磁性的研究生课程，重点是纳米磁性计算。在里士满地区工科少数民族项目的支持下，少数民族高中生每年夏天都将被安置在校长实验室。首席调查员将开发创新的动手工作坊，向来自选定学校的K-12学生解释纳米磁性记忆和逻辑，这些学校在弗吉尼亚州的科学博览会上代表性较低，并将把这些知识和专业知识传授给这些学校的教师。将分析这些学校参加科学博览会的情况，以研究这项为期5年的创新推广活动在K-12教学中的影响。

Nanomagnetic logic and memory have emerged as powerful alternatives to conventional transistor based circuits because a multiferroic nanomagnet, switched with electrically generated strain ("straintronics"), is a far more energy-efficient switch than a transistor. However, nanomagnetic logic is extremely error-prone at room temperature since thermal fluctuations can seriously disrupt magnetization dynamics during switching. In order to make nanomagnetic logic viable, the issue of high error rate must be addressed and a solution found to mitigate its deleterious effects. This project pursues an approach for reducing error rates without calling for impractical on-chip error-correction resources. This research could enable processors to be built with superbly energy-efficient technology that can lead to implantable smart medical devices, button-sized face recognition systems, structural health monitoring systems, and consumer applications such as wearable electronics. A graduate course on nanoscale magnetism with an emphasis on nanomagnetic computing will be created. With the support of the Richmond Area Program for Minorities in Engineering, minority high school students will be hosted in the Principle Investigator's lab every summer. The Principle Investigator will develop innovative hands-on workshops to explain nanomagnetic memory and logic to K-12 students from selected schools that have low representations in Virginia science fairs and will also transfer this knowledge and expertise to teachers from these schools. Science fair participation from such schools will be analyzed to study the impact of this 5-year innovative outreach effort in K-12 teaching.