Towards Spintronics Nonvolatile Caches

Abstract

Non-volatile (NV) cache is desired for overcoming the power and speed bottlenecks of the modern static random access memory (SRAM). A promising candidate for constructing the NV cache is the spin transfer torque magnetic RAM (STT-MRAM), which is featured with low power, fast speed, high density and nearly unlimited endurance. In this chapter, we will review the efforts made to realize the STT-MRAM based NV cache, ranging from architecture to device levels. In addition, the application potential of emerging spintronics technologies, such as spin orbit torque (SOT) and voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA), will be discussed in terms of their benefits and challenges.