Spin transfer torque memories and logic gates

Traditional memory and logic gates are suffering the dilemma of power dissipation rising when the CMOS technology scales down to 40 nm node. By integrating the spin property of electrons, spintronics becomes an emerging technology to overcome definitively this bottleneck. In particular, the magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) nanopillar combining with spin transfer torque (STT) switching mechanism has become a promising candidate to build novel low power integrated circuits thanks to its fast access speed, no-volatility and infinite endurance. This paper will describe the principle of STT and review its recent development for memories and logic gates. Related performance comparisons and physical challenges will be also outlined and discussed.