Superconductor bistable vortex memory for data storage and in-memory computing

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel superconductor vortex transitional memory (VTM) cell design that is high-density, scalable, nonvolatile, and capable of in-memory analog multiply-accumulate operations, demonstrated with a 32x32 array at 20 GHz.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new superconductor VTM cell design that overcomes scaling challenges and enables in-memory computing functionalities.

Findings

Successful demonstration of a 32x32 superconductor memory array at 20 GHz.

The design achieves zero static power consumption and supports analog multiply-accumulate operations.

Analog simulations confirm the memory's accumulation property in an 8x8 array.

Abstract

Superconductor electronics (SCE) is a promising complementary and beyond CMOS technology. However, despite its practical benefits, the realization of SCE logic faces a significant challenge due to the absence of dense and scalable nonvolatile memory designs. While various nonvolatile memory technologies, including Non-destructive readout, vortex transitional memory (VTM), and magnetic memory, have been explored, achieving a superconductor random-access memory (RAM) crossbar array remains challenging. This paper introduces a novel, nonvolatile, high-density, and scalable VTM cell design for SCE applications. Our proposed design addresses scaling issues while boasting zero static power consumption characteristics. Our design leverages current summation, enabling analog multiply-accumulate operations -an essential feature for many in-memory computational tasks. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach with a 32 x 32 superconductor memory array operating at 20 GHz. This design effectively addresses scaling issues and utilizes current summation that can be used for analog multiply-accumulate operations. Additionally, we showcase the accumulation property of the memory through analog simulations conducted on an 8 x 8 superconductor crossbar array.