Spintronics search engines

Abstract

We present a novel design concept for spintronic nanoelectronics that emphasizes a seamless integration of spin-based memory and logic circuits. The building blocks are magneto-logic gates [1,2] based on a hybrid graphene/ferromagnet material system. We use network search engines as a technology demonstration vehicle and present a spin-based circuit design with smaller area and lower energy consumption than the state-of-the-art CMOS counterparts. This design can also be applied in applications such as data compression, coding and image recognition. In the proposed scheme, over 100 spin-based logic operations are carried out before any need for a spin-charge conversion. Consequently, supporting CMOS electronics requires little power consumption. The spintronic-CMOS integrated system can be implemented on a single 3-D chip. These nonvolatile logic circuits hold potential for a paradigm shift in computing applications.