Skyrmion non-volatile memory

What is it about?

Owing to the intriguing physical properties and potential spintronic applications, magnetic skyrmions have recently drawn intensive attention. Particularly, the skyrmion-based non-volatile memory (Sky-NVM) devices promise to be building blocks with high density and energy efficiency. However, tailoring Sky-NVM with energy-efficient and reliable operation in a synthetic, CMOS compatible, and magnetic-field-free integration is still a challenging issue. Recently, a new type of Sky-NVM with tailored skyrmion motion dynamics via in-plane strain gradient engineering is reported. This novel invention, developed by researchers from the Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, hails a breakthrough in the new memory revolution. The skyrmion motion is driven by an in-plane electric field utilizing the magnetoelectric coupling effect, and the programmable switching is realized by biased gating the potential barrier height with voltage controlled magnetic anisotropy.

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Photo by Ryan on Unsplash

Photo by Ryan on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The proposed Skyrmion non-volatile memory is CMOS compatible, and by applying a 0.3 V in-plane voltage combined with -0.17 V gate voltage, its write latency and energy consumption reaches 5.85 ns and 4.77 aJ/bit, respectively, superior to the state-of-the-art. The work paves a new path toward ultra-low-power spintronic memory devices. The research team, led by Professor Guozhong Xing of the Key Laboratory of Microelectronic Devices & Integrated Technology at the Institute of Microelectronics, published their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics as an Editor's Pick on 24 August 2022. This work holds great potential to expand the frontier of next-generation low-power AI chip technologies.

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