In the News
Spingate invented a spin-based nonvolatile FPGA
July 2, 2011
Spingate invented a nonvolatile field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
technology employing the company's proprietary spin logic. The spin logic represents an elegant synthesis of conventional CMOS logic
with embedded magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) residing above the silicon. The embedded MTJs use a spin induced writing mechanism
to reverse a magnetization in a storage magnetic layer. The proper use of these MTJs enable the entire circuit to be non-volatile.
The company has several pending patents that cover basic components of the new technology: logic gates, latches, flip-flops, adders, multiplexers, etc. According to Spingate, the nonvolatile FPGA technology has an excellent scalability and almost zero power consumption in a standby mode of operation. It can provide a significant reduction of interconnects and chip size. The new technology can effectively compete with existing FPGA technologies in price and performance.
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Updates from Spingate, working on a 4Gbit pS-MRAM chip design
March
31, 2011
Spingate is a US-based company focusing on perpendicular MRAM technologies. In November 2009 we have talked to Dr. Alex Shukh,
Spingate's co-founder, CEO and CTO, and he explains Spingate's technology . Today Spingate sent us another update.
Spingate says that
since 2009 they continued to build their IP portfolio. The company invented and has been developing a new class of nonvolatile spin
logic that combines advantages of conventional CMOS logic and MRAM technologies. Spingate's spin logic represents an elegant synthesis
of the conventional logic with embedded MRAM cells residing above the silicon. The memory cells have a marginal impact on layout of
the logic but provides it with a non-volatility. The spin logic may offer significant performance enhancements of conventional logic
devices by eliminating numerous off-chip data flows resulting in speeding up the entire system. The embedded MRAM cells employ spin
induced switching mechanism and magnetic materials with either in-plane or perpendicular anisotropy. The spin logic employing perpendicular
magnetic materials has better scalability and lower switching current than that based on in-plane materials. The company's logic is
especially attractive for application in field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) due to its non-volatility, simplicity, high speed
and reduced chip size. Moreover it can be used for creation of nonvolatile micro-controllers and microprocessors.
Spingate has been
also developing a proprietary 3rd generation of MRAM technology that is based on the spin induced switching and perpendicular magnetic
materials (pS-MRAM). The company invented a MRAM cell with a new writing mechanism that provides high switching speed along with a
reduced spin polarized current; and an elegant design and manufacturing process for perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions with tunneling
magnetoresistance exceeding 100%.
