Using Programmable Graphene Channels as Weights in Spin-Diffusive Neuromorphic Computing

Abstract

A graphene-based spin-diffusive neural network is presented in this paper that takes advantage of the locally tunable spin transport of graphene and the non-volatility of nanomagnets. By using electrostatically gated graphene as spintronic synapses, a weighted summation operation can be performed in the spin domain while the weights can be programmed using circuits in the charge domain. Four-component spin/charge circuit simulations coupled to magnetic dynamics are used to show the feasibility of the neuron-synapse functionality and quantify the analog weighting capability of the graphene under different spin-relaxation mechanisms. This spin-diffusive neural network using a graphene-based synapse design achieves total energy consumption of 0.55-0.97 fJ per cell \cdot synapse and attains significantly better scalability compared to its digital counterparts, particularly as the number and bit accuracy of the synapses increases.