Electric field-induced magnetization switching in interface-coupled multiferroic heterostructures: a highly-dense, non-volatile, and ultra-low-energy computing paradigm

Electric field-induced magnetization switching in multiferroic magnetoelectric devices is promising for computing purposes in beyond Moore's law era. We show here that interface-coupled multiferroic heterostructures, i.e., a ferroelectric layer coupled with a ferromagnetic layer, are particularly suitable for highly-dense, non-volatile, and ultra-low-energy computing. By solving the stochastic Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation of magnetization dynamics in the presence of room-temperature thermal fluctuations, we demonstrate that error-resilient switching of magnetization is possible with a sub-nanosecond delay while expending only a minuscule amount of energy, of ∼1 attojoule. Such devices can be operated by drawing energy from the environment without the need for an external battery.