Taking advantage of nature for a greener nonvolatile memory

Writing information onto nanoscale magnetic oscillators as magnetic bits presents many challenges, some of which become more formidable as we pursue higherdensity information storage. It is true that the electric current densities needed at present to rotate the magnetization direction are lower than those needed in traditional semiconductor devices, where information has to be constantly rewritten. However, the needed currents are still large, resulting in high-energy consumption and Joule heating during writing. Additionally, reducing the magnetic device size generally results in unwanted thermal fluctuations, which have to be overcome by employing high anisotropy material to keep the bit stable.