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Physical Measurement Laboratory /Nanoscale Device Characterization Division

Alternative Computing Group

The Alternative Computing Group has two areas of research in future electronics for information processing. Click on the links below for more information.

Hardware for Artificial Intelligence
Hardware for Artificial Intelligence
Electronic Device Measurements
Electronic Device Measurements

The Alternative Computing Group conducts wide ranging, cross-disciplinary research focusing on innovative measurement science in nanotechnology with an emphasis on applications in future electronics and information processing.  The Group’s current expertise includes measurements and theory for emerging neuromorphic devices and architectures, theory of magnetism and electronic structure, laser-based atom manipulation, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy.  These capabilities are put to use in research programs that support development of new paradigms in nanoelectronics and computing, examining such areas as resistive switching-based neuromorphic processing, spintronic and other nanomagnetic devices, focused ion beam imaging and fabrication, and device metrology including atomic scale defect detection.

News and Updates

Projects and Programs

Custom-built wafer level probes in position to perform EDMR measurements on fully processed transistors.

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Ongoing
The Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Project strives to be at the forefront of understanding the roles that critical atomic-scale defects play in determining
EBIC Current

Neuromorphic Device Measurements

Ongoing
Neuromorphic computing is a radical new approach to information processing for artificial intelligence where, instead of using digital electronics, inspiration
schematic of the MOTIS ion beam source

Novel Sources for Focused-ion Beams

Ongoing
Focused beams of ions have a wide range of uses, from nanoscale imaging to the fabrication of nanomaterials. We are developing novel cold-atom based ion sources

Publications

Large Exotic Spin Torques in Antiferromagnetic Iron Rhodium

Author(s)
Jonathan Gibbons, Takaaki Dohi, Vivek Amin, Fei Xue, Haowen Ren, Hanu Arava, Hilal Saglam, Yuzi Liu, John Pearson, Nadya Mason, Amanda Petford-Long, Paul M. Haney, Soho Shim, Jun-wen Xu, Mark Stiles, Eric Fullerton, Andrew Kent, Shunsuke Fukami, Axel Hoffmann
Spin torque is a promising tool for driving magnetization dynamics for novel computing techniques. These torques can be easily produced by spin-orbit effects

Quantum materials for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing: Opportunities and challenges

Author(s)
Axel Hoffmann, Shriram Ramanathan, Julie Grollier, Andrew Kent, Marcelo Rozenberg, Ivan Schuller, Oleg Shpyrko, Robert Dynes, Yeshaiahu Fainman, Alex Frano, Eric Fullerton, Giulia Galli, Vitaliy Lomakin, Shyue Ping Ong, Amanda K. Petford-Long, Jonathan A. Schuller, Mark Stiles, Yayoi Takamura, Yimei Zhu
Neuromorphic computing approaches become increasingly important as we address future needs for efficiently processing massive amounts of data. The unique

Implementation of a Binary Neural Network on a Passive Array of Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Author(s)
Jonathan Goodwill, Nitin Prasad, Brian Hoskins, Matthew Daniels, Advait Madhavan, Lei Wan, Tiffany Santos, Michael Tran, Jordan Katine, Patrick Braganca, Mark Stiles, Jabez J. McClelland
The increasing scale of neural networks and their growing application space have produced a demand for more energy and memory efficient artificial-intelligence

Awards

Press Coverage

A dense grid of purple, blue and red lines on a square platform.

NIST, Google announce chip R&D partnership

FCW
The National Institute of Standards and Technology entered into a new agreement with search engine behemoth Google to help manufacture more chip technology that

Contacts

Group Leader