Spin-functional MOSFETsfor integrated electronics

摘要

In the near future the CMOS scaling will reach the physical limit of several nanometers. Therefore, scaling-independent technology to improve device performance attracts considerable attention. From this point of view, great efforts have been paid to achieve much higher current drivability of CMOS so far. Introduction of new functionality into CMOS is expected to be an alternate approach to improve circuit performance. Spin-functional MOSFETs are a new concept that unites an ordinary MOSFET with useful functions of recently emerging spintronic devices. Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) are a key device for this concept owing to their unique functions of nonvolatile information storage and reconfigurable output characteristics. Figures 1 (a) and (b) show device and circuit approaches to realize spin-functional MOSFETs, respectively. Spin-MOSFET (S-MOSFET) with ferromagnetic source/drain (S/D) can merge the functions of MTJs with a MOSFET at device level. Pseudo-spin-MOSFET (PS-MOSFET) is a circuit approach to realize the functions of S-MOSFET using an ordinary MOSFET and MTJ, based on MRAM technology.