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Updated: Jul 17, 2025
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All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
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Probabilistic computing with voltage-controlled dynamics in magnetic tunnel junctions
Yixin Shao1, Christian Duffee1, Eleonora Raimondo2
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, United States of America.
Nanotechnology
|September 5, 2023
Summary
Researchers developed a novel probabilistic bit (p-bit) using voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy in magnetic tunnel junctions. This innovation enables efficient, on-demand random number generation for advanced p-computing applications.
Area of Science:
- Spintronics
- Computational Science
Background:
- Probabilistic computing (p-computing) offers solutions for complex computational problems intractable for conventional computers.
- Current p-bit designs using stochastic magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) face challenges with precise control and analog signals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate a new p-bit design utilizing the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect.
- To enable fast, compact, and energy-efficient probabilistic bits for p-computing.
Main Methods:
- Utilized perpendicular MTJs with large energy barriers, stable without voltage.
- Employed VCMA effect to induce dynamics for on-demand random state generation.
- Implemented p-bits using VC-MTJs without bias current for a compact design.
Main Results:
- Achieved random number generation in under 10 ns/bit.
- Demonstrated the feasibility of the p-bit design by solving up to 40-bit integer factorization problems.
- Generated high-quality random numbers using experimental bit-streams.
Conclusions:
- The proposed VCMA-based p-bit offers a viable alternative for spintronic p-computing.
- This approach enables low-cost, true random number generation for ultralow-power, compact p-computers.
- The technology has the potential to significantly impact the development of p-computers.
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