A 600MHz MTJ-based nonvolatile latch making use of incubation time in MTJ switching

The incubation (transit) time of the perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is found shorter (longer) than the in-plane MTJ. By making use of the incubation time, a new concept is proposed for MTJ/CMOS hybrid circuits that operate as fast as CMOS circuits without operation power overhead and with negligible MTJ switching error. A nonvolatile latch based on the concept is fabricated in 90nm technology to demonstrate 600MHz stable operation.