A Novel Cross-point MRAM with Diode Selector Capable of High-Density, High-Speed, and Low-Power In-Memory Computation

In-Memory Computation (IMC), which is capable of reducing the power consumption and bandwidth requirement resulting from the data transfer between the processing and memory units, has been considered as a promising technology to break the von-Neumann bottleneck. In order to develop an effective and efficient IMC platform, the performance, such as density, operation speed and power consumption, of the memory itself is one of the most important keys. In this work, we report a cross-point magnetic random access memory (MRAM) with diode selector for IMC implementation. The memory cell consists of a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device and a diode connected in series. The memory cells are arranged in a cross-point array structure, providing high storage density. The MTJ can be switched through the unipolar precessional voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect, thus enabling high speed and low power. Further, Boolean logic functions can be realized via regular memory-like write & read operations. The feasibility and performance of the proposed IMC in the cross-point MRAM are successfully demonstrated with hybrid VCMA-MTJ/CMOS circuit simulations under the 40 nm technology node.