Straintronic nanomagnetic computing

Abstract

One method of electric field control of magnetization is to generate a strain in a piezoelectric layer by applying an electric field to it and transfer this strain to a magnetostrictive nanoscale magnet or to the magnetostrictive soft layer of a magnetic tunnel junction deposited on the piezoelectric, thus controlling its magnetization state through inverse magnetostriction (Villari effect). Such strain-mediated electric field control of magnetization offers an extremely energy-efficient method of writing the magnetic state (∼100 aJ/bit). This review discusses the development of computing paradigms based on strain control of magnetism, termed “straintronics” or “magnetic straintronics,” and their future potential. Here, we discuss various Boolean memory and logic devices as well as non-Boolean and neuromorphic computing devices proposed and experimentally demonstrated along with their potential advantages and key challenges.