Beyond Charge Based Computing

Recent experiments on spin devices like magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ), domain wall magnets (DWM) and lateral spin valves (LSV) have led to the possibility of using "spin" as state variable for computation. While the possibility of on-chip spin transfer torque memories is close to reality, several questions still exist regarding the energy benefits of spin for logic computation. Lateral spin valves (LSV) involve switching of nano-magnets using spin-polarized current injection through a metallic channel such as Cu. Such spin-torque based devices possess several interesting properties that can be exploited for low power Boolean as well as Non-Boolean computation like cognitive/neuromorphic computing, associative memory, programmable logic and analog and digital signal processing. Simulation results for these applications based on a calibrated device-circuit co-simulation framework predict two orders of magnitude improvement in computation energy as compared to state of the art CMOS design.  



 About Prof. Kaushik Roy:

Kaushik Roy received B.Tech. degree from the IIT Kharagpur and Ph.D.from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was with the Semiconductor Process and Design Center of Texas Instruments. Dr. Roy has published more than 600 papers in refereed journals and conferences, holds 15 patents, graduated 60 PhD students, and is co-author of two books on Low Power CMOS VLSI Design (John Wiley & McGraw Hill). Dr. Roy has received numerous awards and distinctions all throughout his career. Dr. Roy is a fellow of IEEE.