Programmable skyrmion logic gates based on skyrmion tunneling

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel skyrmion-based logic gate design that uses skyrmion tunneling through anisotropy barriers, enabling programmable, cascadable logic-in-memory devices with potential for high-density computing.

Contribution

It introduces a new method of designing programmable skyrmion logic gates using tunneling interactions and anisotropy barriers, advancing skyrmion-based logic-in-memory technology.

Findings

Demonstrates skyrmion tunneling controlled by barrier parameters

Design of skyrmion De-multiplexer (DMux) logic gate

Development of fully programmable, cascadable skyrmionic logic system

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions are promising candidates as elementary nanoscale bits in logic-in-memory devices, intrinsically merging high density memory and computing capabilities. Here we exploit the dynamics of skyrmions interacting with anisotropy energy barriers patterned by ion irradiation to design programmable logic gates. Using micromagnetic simulations with experimental parameters, we show that a fine tuning of the barrier height and width allows the selective tunneling of skyrmions between parallel nanotracks triggered by skyrmion-skyrmion interaction. This can be leveraged to design skyrmion De-multiplexer (DMux) logic gate which works solely using skyrmions as logic inputs. By cascading and connecting demultiplexer gates with a specific topology, we develop a fully programmable logic gate capable of producing any possible logic output as a sum of all minterms generated by a given set of inputs without requiring any complex additional electric/magnetic interconversion. The proposed design is fully conservative and cascadable and paves a new pathway for full skyrmionic-based logic-in-memory devices.