Magnetic skyrmions for unconventional computing

• Published in: Materials horizons Vol. 8; no. 3; pp. 854 - 868
• Main Authors: Li, Sai, Kang, Wang, Zhang, Xichao, Nie, Tianxiao, Zhou, Yan, Wang, Kang L, Zhao, Weisheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 01.03.2021
• Subjects: Computation; Elementary excitations; Hypothetical particles; Moore's law; Nanotechnology devices; Particle theory; Swirling
• ISSN: 2051-6347; 2051-6355; 2051-6355
• DOI: 10.1039/d0mh01603a

Improvements in computing performance have significantly slowed down over the past few years owing to the intrinsic limitations of computing hardware. However, the demand for data computing has increased exponentially. To solve this problem, tremendous attention has been focused on the continuous scaling of Moore's law as well as the advanced non-von Neumann computing architecture. A rich variety of unconventional computing paradigms has been devised with the rapid development of nanoscale devices. Magnetic skyrmions, spin swirling quasiparticles, have been endowed with great expectations for unconventional computing due to their potential as the smallest information carriers by exploiting their physics and dynamics. In this paper, we provide an overview of the recent progress of skyrmion-based unconventional computing from a joint device-application perspective. This paper aims to build up a panoramic picture, analyze the remaining challenges, and most importantly to shed light on the outlook of skyrmion based unconventional computing for interdisciplinary researchers. A rich variety of unconventional computing paradigms has been raised with the rapid development of nanoscale devices. Magnetic skyrmions, spin swirling quasiparticles, have been endowed with great expectations for unconventional computing.