The continuous development of science and technology requires a continuing need for increasingly powerful computers. The commonly used silicon-based transistors have already reached their physical limitation for size reduction. This is why the research and development of alternate switches is a hot topic in electrical engineering.
An innovative and promising technology is nanomagnets which are able to provide the data transmission and processing by using nanomagnetic logic (NML). This technology processes data by using the magnetic field in a way that fundamentally differs to how electrical current is used in traditional chips to achieve the same result. With no need to pass current, nanomagnets are ultra-low power consumers, and as such they pose an attractive alternative for conventional transistor-based computers providing since they generate far less heat. The nanomagnet switching delay is approximately 1 ns—meaning the dissipated energy during the switching operation is approximately a few aJ (where an attojoule (aJ) is equal to the 10 -18 J).
NML works with the help of the nanomagnet’s bistable magnetization states property. The magnets are lithographically defined in a cellular interconnected architecture.
Binary information is encoded by the switching of magnetization states, which is performed by applying small voltages. The binary information (ones and zeros) corresponds to the magnetization direction of a single domain nanomagnet. The information is transmitted and processed by using the neighboring magnet’s magnetic dipole interactions.
The nanomagnet switches are nonvolatile, a great advantage compared totransistors. Nonvolatile STANDBY/ON switches can remember thier state after a power failure, such as when the operator is not present. This attribute has valuable applications in the telecom industry as no time is required to boot up after the system is restarted. Thus, the technology has a dual role as logic and memory.
Summary
In short, nanomagnet switches are a promising alternative for traditional transistors. The technology gives a solution which is robust, has minimal energy consumption, and high-speed signal processing with the dual-role nonvolatile property. This allows designing simpler circuits which are able to implement a corresponding function.
The most potential application based on nanomagnets is microcontrollers which will be low power, radiation resistant, and can operate at high temperatures. These features make nanomagnet microcontrollers attractive for robotic technology and applications in space travel as well as telecom.