Robust power-law computing for edge intelligence using spin-orbit torque magnetic tunnel junctions
Power-law transformations are widely used in edge perception, where compact implementations must balance numerical precision, circuit resources, and device variability. Here, we demonstrate a stochastic power-law architecture based on spin–orbit-torque magnetic tunnel junctions (SOT-MTJs). An event-driven feedback loop adjusts the write voltage to regulate the probability of an all-1 event in an n-bit block. Under the fixed-point sampling model, this establishes a switching probability p = b1/n, from which m-bit event statistics yield the power-law target bm/n. Online probability locking removes the need for offline per-device probability-voltage characterization or stored calibration tables. Measurements on W-based SOT-MTJs, combined with digital analysis of the acquired bitstreams, demonstrate representative power-law operations with absolute deviations of 0.003 or less at the reported precision, as well as parallel decoding of multiple exponents from one source. A 4-bit gamma-correction example preserves dark-region image detail and reaches approximately 35 dB peak signal-to-noise ratio relative to the theoretical gamma-domain reference near 1000 raw samples. A 5 Oe device-level field perturbation and a joint ±90% simulation centered on the measured parameter means of 25 devices examine adaptation and the safe voltage operating boundary under the tested conditions. These results establish a nonlinear computing primitive with accuracy controlled by sampling depth and an operating point maintained through feedback.
Authors
- Aleksandr V. Davydenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2697-8563)
- Alexander Sergeevich Samardak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5917-4361)
- Xiufeng Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8053-793X)
- Guanxiang Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7798-4410)
- Caihua Wan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5456-1052)
- Guoqiang Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7439-6920)
- Yingqian Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3771-0255)
- Xiaohan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9311-6253)
- Dehao Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1013-4268)
- Shilong Xiong
- Shengkai Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7173-4588)
- Tianyi Zhang
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Far Eastern Federal University (RU)
- Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CN)
- Institute of Physics (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Applied Physics Reviews
- Published
- 2026-11-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0352180
- Primary Topic
- Magnetic properties of thin films
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Russian Science Foundation
- National Key Research and Development Program of China