Electric Clock for NanoMagnet Logic Circuits

Among Field-Coupled technologies, NanoMagnet Logic (NML) is one of the most promising. Low dynamic power consumption, total absence of static power, remarkable heat and radiations resistance, in association with the possibility of combining memory and logic in the same device, make this technology the ideal candidate for low power, portable applications. However, the necessity of using an external magnetic field to locally control the circuit represents, currently, the weakest point of this technology. The high power losses in the clock generation system adopted up to now wipes out the most important advantages of this technology. In this chapter we discuss a clock system based on a piezoelectric actuator that allows electrical control of NanoMagnet Logic circuits. The low power consumption coupled with the fact that electric fields are easier to generate at the nanoscale level makes this clock system a strong candidate as the final and effective clocking mechanism for this technology. Another remarkable advantage of the proposed solution resides in its compatibility with currently available technology.