Title: Spins for a New Computing Era

Abstract: Cognitive computing will redefine everyday life, changing how individuals perform their jobs, interact with others, and make decisions. Nonvolatile memories hold the key to solve the overwhelming energy demand for such computing and ensure intelligent systems for sustainable future. Magnetic memory, with electron spin as the information token, is one of the most promising nonvolatile technologies for next generation computers.  

I will present a complete path – from spintronic materials to device, for future computing era. The experimental demonstration of spin orbit torque induced magnetic devices will be shown as the building blocks (i.e., synapses and neurons) for in-memory computing. The synaptic device shows the most important functionality – linear output resistance, and the neurons provide programmable nonlinearity, unlike any other non-volatile memories. The scaled devices can potentially achieve energy consumption comparable to biological synapses, which is 1000× lower than any other technologies. Later, the study of alternate magnetic materials will be shown to identify more energy-efficient and dynamically robust superior materials for sub-nanosecond devices for non-von Neumann computation. The devices and materials developed in this work extend in applications beyond the examples provided here, introducing versatile platforms for using electron spin in other microelectronic applications like communication and quantum computers. 

Speaker bio: Saima Siddiqui is a DRIVE postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to that, she was a postdoctoral researcher in Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Her research interests lie in quantum materials and nanoscale devices with unique functionalities by combining high quality materials growth, innovative fabrication, integration, and characterization techniques. 

Saima completed her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018 working on spintronic devices for emerging frontiers in computing. She received her Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Saima is a recipient of the Illinois Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship and 2021 IEEE Chicago Early Career Award in Magnetics and has been selected as an EECS Rising Star in 2019.