Room temperature ferromagnetic skyrmion based artificial neuron device

The development of energy-efficient and ultrafast neuromorphic computing based on the dynamics of the ferromagnetic (FM) skyrmion on the nanotrack has attained considerable interest. In this work, FM skyrmion based artificial neuron device is proposed. The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) gradient is created on a thin film ferromagnetic (FM) layer by voltage control-PMA effect (VC-PMA). The anisotropy is directly co-related with the strength of 𝑚_𝑧 that affects the size of skyrmion meaning that in the region with larger PMA, the skyrmion size is smaller and hence, more energy. However, the skyrmions have the tendency to move in the direction to minimize the energy. Hence, the skyrmion move towards the lower PMA. This behavior of skyrmion on a nanotrack with PMA gradient corresponds to the leaky-integrate-fire (LIF) functionality of the neuron device. Hence, the suggested energy-efficient artificial neuron opens up the path for developing for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing.