Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Letters to Nature
Nature 425, 485-487 (2 October 2003) | doi:10.1038/nature02014; Received 12 February 2003; Accepted 1 September 2003
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Methods to Analyze Consumer Emotions
The Seeker is looking for methods to analyze consumer emotions. This Challenge requires only a writ...
-
Single-cell Analysis Platform
This Challenge is looking for novel approaches to analyzing changes at a single-cell level. This is...
nature jobs
Scientist / Sr. Scientist - Biopharmaceutics
- Syngene International
- Bangalore, Karnataka 560099 India
Senior Computational Scientist
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Argonne, IL, United States
Programmable computing with a single magnetoresistive element
A. Ney1, C. Pampuch1, R. Koch1 & K. H. Ploog1
- Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
Correspondence to: R. Koch1 Email: koch@pdi-berlin.de
Abstract
The development of transistor-based integrated circuits for modern computing is a story of great success. However, the proved concept for enhancing computational power by continuous miniaturization is approaching its fundamental limits. Alternative approaches consider logic elements that are reconfigurable at run-time to overcome the rigid architecture of the present hardware systems1. Implementation of parallel algorithms on such 'chameleon' processors has the potential to yield a dramatic increase of computational speed, competitive with that of supercomputers2. Owing to their functional flexibility, 'chameleon' processors can be readily optimized with respect to any computer application. In conventional microprocessors, information must be transferred to a memory to prevent it from getting lost, because electrically processed information is volatile. Therefore the computational performance can be improved if the logic gate is additionally capable of storing the output. Here we describe a simple hardware concept for a programmable logic element that is based on a single magnetic random access memory (MRAM3, 4) cell. It combines the inherent advantage of a non-volatile output with flexible functionality which can be selected at run-time to operate as an AND, OR, NAND or NOR gate.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).

