Transistor that employs collective magnetic effects thereby providing improved energy efficiency

US9825218B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System · US

Inventors

• Allan MacDonald · Austin, US
• Leonard Franklin Register, II · Austin, US
• Emanuel Tutuc · Austin, US
• Inti Sodemann · Austin, US
• Hua Chen · Houston, US
• Xuehao Mou · Austin, US
• Sanjay Banerjee · Austin, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 13, 2015
• Grant date: Nov 21, 2017
• Expiry date: Oct 13, 2035

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H10N52/80
• WIPO field: Basic communication processes
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A device or class of devices that provides a mechanism for controlling charge current flow in transistors that employs collective magnetic effects to overcome voltage limitations associated with single-particle thermionic emission as in conventional MOSFETs. Such a device may include two or more magnetic stacks with an easy-in-plane ferromagnetic film sandwiched between oppositely magnetically oriented perpendicular magnetization anisotropy (PMA) ferromagnets. Each stack includes two non-magnetic layers separating the easy-plane ferromagnetic film from the PMA layers. Charge current flow through one of these stacks controls the current-voltage negative differential resistance characteristics of the second stack through collective magnetic interactions. This can be exploited in a variety of digital logic gates consuming less energy than conventional CMOS integrated circuits. Furthermore, the easy-in-plane magnetic films may be subdivided into regions coupled through exchange interactions and the in-plane fixed magnetic layers in the input magnetic stacks can be used in non-volatile logic and memory.