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Although spin transfer torque (STT)-based magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) owns advantages of nonvolatility, nonlimited endurance, and fast write/read, its demand for high current density significantly casts a shadow over its future prospects. Recently, a novel three-terminal MTJ cell that combines voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect and negative capacitance (NC) effect is proposed. Drawing support from the NC amplified VCMA effect and the three-step operation scenario, this novel MTJ cell can dramatically lower the energy consumption to fJ as well as keep high operation speed within nanoseconds. The feasibility of the proposed NC enhanced VCMA spintronics device for memory and logic application is proved by extensive physical simulation in our previous work. However, a SPICE compatible compact model of the proposed NC enhanced VCMA spintronics device is still demanded for circuit and system level evaluation. In this paper, we provide an accurate and fast compact model of NC enhanced VCMA device for both memory and logic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between size, shape, and the performance of the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA)-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) suitable for gigabit scale MRAMs with 10 years of retention time. A Fokker–Planck simulation framework is developed to model the magnetization dynamics in the presence of thermal noise. Here, we numerically show that the optimization of the MTJ geometry can significantly improve the performance of the VCMA-based MTJs. Using an elliptical MTJ with aspect ratio (AR) of 3 reduces the required supply voltage and energy consumption by 80.7% and 92%, respectively, compared to a circular MTJ when the minimum feature size is 50 nm. The design requirements on the VCMA coefficient, ${\xi }$ , are also reduced by 67%. However, the influence of AR is observed to diminish with reduction in the minimum feature size of the MTJ. For instance, when the minimum feature size is 20 nm, the required supply voltage and energy consumption reduce only by 60.29% and 65.30%, respectively. We, then, perform a comprehensive scaling analysis on the VCMA-based MTJs by varying size, geometry, and ${\xi }$ of the MTJs. The predicted scaling trends are then compared with those of the STT MTJs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spin transfer torque (STT)-based switching of magnetic random access memories (MRAMs) has stimulated considerable research interest in recent years. The nonvolatility of STT-MRAMs, high areal density, and low static power dissipation makes them a strong contender for possible replacement of conventional silicon-based memories. However, a major bottleneck associated with STT-MRAMs is their high write current requirement. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the high write current of the STT switching mechanism can be improved by using other magnetic switching techniques like voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy, spin Hall effect, and magnetoelectric effect. Interestingly, each of these new physics increases the design space to be explored and presents interesting tradeoffs with respect to read and write mechanisms. It is, therefore, important to analyze these devices with respect to their readability, writability, and areal density in a unified framework that is based on the state-of-the-art experimental results. Toward that end, in this paper, we present an overview of various physics underlying these magnetic memories and discuss associated bit-cell circuitry. Furthermore, we present a holistic comparative analysis based on detailed numerical simulations highlighting the various design tradeoffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to introduce a compact model for perpendicular spin-transfer torque (STT)-magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) implemented in Verilog-A to assure easy integration with electrical circuit simulators. It takes into account the effects of voltage-dependent perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, temperature-dependent parameters, thermal heating/cooling, MTJ process variations, and the spin-torque asymmetry of the Slonczewski spin-polarization function in the switching process. This translates into a comprehensive modeling that was adopted to investigate the writing performance under voltage scaling of a $256\times256$ STT- magnetic random access memory array implemented at three different technology nodes. Obtained results show that scaling from 30- to 20-nm node allows a write energy saving of about 43%, while the supply voltage that assures the minimum-energy write operation increases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]