Experimental demonstration of non-majority, nanomagnet logic gates

Lithographically defined magnets can process and move information in a cellular, locally interconnected architecture. Wires, majority gates, and inversion have all been demonstrated at room temperature, and it is estimated that if 1010 magnets switch 108 times/s, the magnets themselves would dissipate only about 0.1 W of power. Local clock fields required for switching, as well as I/O, can be realized with CMOS circuitry. Energy differences between magnetization states can be large, and an external stimulus is required for logic reevaluation. It is depicted that a line of magnets that are initially in a logically correct state. A magnetic field (clock) modulates a device's energy barrier by biasing a device along its hard axis against a preferred shape anisotropy. As the field is removed, magnets relax into a state in accordance with a new input. Copper wires clad with ferromagnetic material on the sides and bottom can provide a magnetic field for on-chip, local control of Nanomagnet Logic (NML) circuits. Devices have been switched experimentally with this setup.