New-Tech Europe Magazine | November 2018

November 2018

16 When logic goes democratic: The potential of spintronic and plasmonic majority gates. 22 Great things come in small packages: enabling augmented & virtual reality’s next wave 26 MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts 28 Flattening Negative Gain Slope with MMIC Fixed Equalizers

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November 2018

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8 l New-Tech Magazine Europe

Contents

10 LATEST NEWS 16 When logic goes democratic: The potential of spintronic and plasmonic majority gates. 22 Great things come in small packages: enabling augmented & virtual reality’s next wave 26 MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts 28 Flattening Negative Gain Slope with MMIC Fixed Equalizers 32 Engineering’s long-term need for outsider talent

16

36 OUT OF THE BOX 38 NEW PRODUCTS 46 INDEX

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New-Tech Magazine Europe l 9

Latest News

Siemens honors 12 researchers who account for 590 inventions

Siemens has honored 12 particularly resourceful researchers as Inventors of the Year 2018. Together, these scientists are responsible for some 590 inventions and 589 individual patents. Two of the inventors are from Germany, three from Austria and one each from Norway, France, Poland, Mexico, China, India

Operating Officer of Siemens AG. “That’s the purpose of Siemens. And our inventors live this purpose.” Every year since 1995, Siemens has been presenting the Inventor of the Year Award to its outstanding researchers and developers, whose

inventions have made major contributions to the company’s strong performance. Since 2016, the award has also been presented to researchers from outside the company. In fiscal 2018, Siemens filed around 3,850 patents worldwide – an increase of 200 patents over the previous year. Worldwide, Siemens holds about 65,000 patents. In fiscal 2018, Siemens employees submitted about 7,300 invention disclosures. On a basis of 220 workdays during the year, this figure corresponds to about 33 inventions per day.

and the United States. Their inventions range from new software that revolutionizes component design with 3D printing to an ingenious window coating that significantly improves the reception of cellular communication signals in trains. “Our inventors share the aspiration of enabling progress in technology and society, helping to make real what matters and creating value for customers and all our stakeholders,” said Roland Busch, Chief Technology Officer and Chief

CPI Supports PowerDrive Line to Develop Battery Charging

The PowerDrive Line project aims to develop next generation, solid-state battery cells to charge plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Safer and more power-dense battery systems are required to enable charging of these cars in as little as 15 to 25 minutes. Working alongside lead partners

formulation, with Ilika using its success in the manufacturing of micro solid-state batteries to progress the area of solid- state batteries for automotive applications. The 30-month PowerDrive Line project, part of the Government’s Faraday Battery Challenge, has received more than £4.4million in grant funding and is an integral

Ilika, Ricardo and UCL (University College London), CPI is applying its knowledge across the formulation sector to help create a lithium-based solid-state Stereax® battery and establish a pre-pilot line for prototype cell technology. CPI will use its ink formulation and scale-up expertise, including the use of high-throughput equipment for rapid formulation screening, to support the development of the pre-pilot line. UCL will produce solid state electrolyte materials, via its novel hydrothermal processes, which will be transferred to CPI for

aspect of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Seeking to lower carbon emissions and air pollution, this fund supports research and innovation around the development of new battery technologies for future electrified vehicles. This will further strengthen the UK solid-state materials supply chain. Dr. Graeme Cruickshank, Director of Formulation at CPI, said: “We are delighted to be using our state-of-the-art formulation capabilities to re-apply our expertise from other advanced coatings to create these products for our greener tomorrow.

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Latest News

Bosch and Daimler: San José targeted to become pilot city for an automated on-demand ride-hailing service

Automated vehicles make urbanmobilitymore attractive With their joint development work on highly and fully automated driving (SAE level 4/5) in urban environments, Bosch and Daimler aim to improve the flow of traffic in cities, enhance road safety, and provide an important building block for the way traffic will work

Located on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay in Silicon Valley, and with more than one million inhabitants, San José is the third biggest city in California. It is planned to be the pilot city for trials, targeted to begin during the second half of 2019, of the highly and fully automated driving (SAE Level 4/5) on-demand ride-hailing

service recently announced by Bosch and Daimler. The three parties have signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue and finalize this activity. Using automated Mercedes- Benz S-Class vehicles, Bosch and Daimler propose to offer the service to a selected user community in the San Carlos/Stevens Creek corridor between downtown and west San José. With its population expected to grow 40 percent in the next two decades, the metropolitan area faces growing transportation challenges. Moreover, San José wants to prepare itself for a future in which autonomous cars hit the streets. “The pilot project is an opportunity to explore how autonomous vehicles can help us better meet future transportation needs,” says Sam Liccardo, mayor of San José. “Since many years we consequently push autonomous driving. With this pilot we will generate valuable insights to connect fully automated vehicles in the best way with users of future mobility services,” says Dr. Michael Hafner, Vice President Drive Technologies and Automated Driving at Daimler AG. “We have to rethink urban transportation. Automated driving will help us complete the picture of future urban traffic,” says Dr. Stephan Hönle, senior vice president of the Automated Driving business unit at Robert Bosch GmbH. The on-demand ride-hailing service app operated by Daimler Mobility Services will demonstrate how mobility services such as car sharing (car2go), ride-hailing (mytaxi), and multi- modal platforms (moovel) can be intelligently connected. The test operation will provide information about how highly and fully automated vehicles can be integrated into a multi-modal transportation network. The intent is to provide a seamless digital experience, in which a selected user community will have the opportunity to hail a self-driving car, monitored by a safety driver, from a designated pick-up location and drive automatically to their destination.

in the future. Among other things, the technology will boost the attraction of car sharing. Without compromising driving safety, it will allow people to make the best possible use of the time they spend in their vehicles, and open up new mobility opportunities for people without a driver’s license. Bosch and Daimler associates share the same office space Bosch and Daimler associates involved in the development project work together in teams in two regions: in the greater Stuttgart area in Germany and, in the United States, around Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley between San José and San Francisco. Since they share the same office space, rapid communication across working disciplines is ensured, and decision-making paths are short. At the same time, they can draw on the combined know-how of their colleagues in the parent companies. The two companies’ associates are jointly developing the concepts and algorithms for the highly and fully automated drive system. Daimler’s task is to bring the drive system into the car. The company is providing the necessary development vehicles, test facilities, and vehicles for the test fleet. Bosch is responsible for the components specified during the development work, such as sensors, actuators, and control units. For test purposes, Bosch and Daimler use their laboratories and test rigs, plus their respective test sites in Germany. Since obtaining its Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles in 2014, Mercedes-Benz has been testing automated vehicles in the Sunnyvale/California region. And since 2016, it has had similar approval for the greater Stuttgart area in Germany. In early 2013, Bosch was the world’s first automotive supplier to test automated driving (SAE level 3) on public roads in Germany and the United States.

New-Tech Magazine Europe l 11

Latest News

Digi-Key AnnouncesWinner of Coveted Camaro at electronica

A 2018 Chevrolet Camaro V8 Convertible was the big giveaway at Digi- Key Electronics’ booth at electronica in Munich and the winner is deserving of the prize. Marco E., a university student studying for his bachelor’s thesis from Regensburg, Germany, attended electronica to get a feeling for current market trends. His name was drawn at random, and he received the “teaser” call at an unusual time. “I was sitting in a lecture when I got the call from Digi-Key asking if I could come back to the show Friday morning,” commented Marco. “Later that night I couldn’t sleep because I was curious if I had won the car of if I was just a finalist.” When Marco arrived at the event Friday morning, the good news he was hoping for was confirmed. “After meeting the Digi-Key team I asked for more information and was speechless after they shook my hand Nokia and Alfa, Lebanon’s first mobile operator managed by Orascom TMT, will deploy 4.5G Pro technology using the Nokia AirScale 5G-ready radio platform following a recent successful test of the technology. With this, Alfa will be able to introduce Gigabit LTE speeds for its subscribers. The deployment follows the MOU signed in MWC 2018 and is an important step for Alfa to prepare its network to eventually offer innovative 5G services to its subscribers. This kind of higher-speed broadband will enable them to enjoy data- hungry applications and services such as Ultra High Definition video streaming, e-health and e-education, and can support millions of smart devices connected for Internet of Things (IOT) and smart cities.

and told me I won the car,” he said. The winner of the car is also offered the opportunity to take the cash value of the prize instead. After careful consideration, Marco decided to take the cash option. “I’ve decided that I’m going to take the money but save it and not spend it,” he said.

“However, I do think I’m going to rent a Camaro very similar to this one for a week and pick up my friends with it and drive around town.” “Our event games and prizes are just one way we like to surprise and delight our customers,” said Hermann Reiter, Director, Global Strategic Business Development & Suppliers. “More importantly, events like electronica are a great opportunity to talk with customers and learning about what they expect from distributors in the electronics industry and how to continue supporting engineers. Our goal is to find out how we can continue to support and engage them in their day-to-day work.” Alfa will use Nokia’s 5G-ready, commercially available AirScale radio, three-carrier aggregation technique, 4×4 Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) and 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) to achieve higher throughput, along with Category 16 (Cat 16) capable devices. Such capabilities are critical for operators facing relentless demand for data- driven services and preparing for the advent of 5G networks and services. Nokia has defined a clear path to 5G through 4.5G Pro and 4.9G. The company already announced 4.5G Pro and 4.9G in September 2016 to enable operators such as Alfa to meet the ever-increasing data demands of their subscribers. Marwan Hayek, Chairman and CEO of Alfa, said: “The road to 5G was laid long ago in Lebanon with the launch of the country’s first 4.5G network by Alfa. We continue

Alfa and Nokia deploy 4.5G Pro technology for ultra- broadband on the evolutionary path to 5G

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Latest News

Access platform that supports all technologies, allows scalability and agility from Cloud, and is energy efficient, reducing operational expenditure 4X4 MIMO technology using four antennas both on the base stations and mobile devices to improve the network performance Carrier aggregation software to combine an 800 MHz carrier and two 1800 MHz carriers, creating larger, virtual carrier bandwidths and boosting the network capacity 256 QAM higher order modulation to improve the downlink speed Nokia professional services, including Network Planning and Optimization, Project Management, and Network Implementation will be used to ensure smooth implementation of the project

this evolutionary path toward deploying the first 5G network in the country planned in 2019 through this 4.5G Pro deployment with our long-term partner Nokia. This deployment maintains our telecom leadership position and strengthens the foundation for eventual IoT services for smart cities in the country.” Roger Ghorayeb, customer team head for growth in West MEA at Nokia, said: “We are delighted to continue supporting Alfa to quickly move toward 5G technologies and provide pioneering high-quality mobile broadband services. This deployment reiterates our commitment to modernize Alfa’s network infrastructure with Nokia’s latest technologies.” Solution overview of the deployment: Nokia’s 5G-ready, commercially available AirScale Radio

Imec and CEA-Leti join forces on Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing

During the state visit of His Excellency Emmanuel Macron President of the French Republic, the Belgian research center imec and the French research institute CEA-Leti, two world-leading research and innovation hubs in nanotechnologies for industry, announced that they have signed a memorandum of

computer systems that display intelligent behavior locally on the hardware devices (e.g chips) . They analyze their environment and take the required actions to achieve specific goals. Edge AI is poised to become a key driver of economic development. And, even more importantly perhaps, it holds the promise

understanding (MoU) that lays the foundation of a strategic partnership in the domains of Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing, two key strategic value chains for European industry, to strengthen European strategic and economic sovereignty. The joint efforts of imec and CEA- Leti underline Europe’s ambition to take a leading role in the development of these technologies. The research centers’ increased collaboration will focus on developing, testing and experimenting neuromorphic and quantum computing – and should result in the delivery of a digital hardware computing toolbox that can be used by European industry partners to innovate in a wide variety of application domains – from personalized healthcare and smart mobility to the new manufacturing industry and smart energy sectors. Edge Artificial Intelligence (eAI) commonly refers to

of solving many societal challenges – from treating diseases that cannot yet be cured today, to minimizing the environmental impact of farming. Decentralization from the cloud to the edge is a key challenge of AI technologies applied to large heterogeneous systems. This requires innovation in the components industry with powerful, energy-guzzling processors. “The ability to develop technologies such as AI and quantum computing – and put them into industrial use across a wide spectrum of applications – is one of Europe’s major challenges. Both quantum and neuromorphic computing (to enable artificial intelligence) are very promising areas of innovation, as they hold a huge industrialization potential. A stronger collaboration in these domains between imec and CEA-Leti, two of Europe’s leading research centers,

New-Tech Magazine Europe l 13

Latest News

Microelectronics of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the largest organization for applied research, will focus all three institutes to the task of keeping Europe at the forefront of new digital hardware for AI, HPC and Cyber-security applications.” Imec and CEA-Leti are inviting partners from industry as well as academia to join them and benefit from access to the research centers’ state-of-the-art technology with proven reproducibility – enabling a much higher degree of device complexity, reproducibility and material perfection while sharing the costs of precompetitive research.

will undoubtedly help to speed up the technologies’ development time: it will provide us with the critical mass that is required to create more – and faster – impact. and will result in plenty of new business opportunities for our European industry partners,” says Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of imec. “Two European microelectronics pioneers today are joining forces to raise the game in both high-performance computing and trusted AI at the edge, and ultimately to fuel European industry success through innovations in aeronautics, defence, automobiles, Industry 4.0 and health care,” said Emmanuel Sabonnadière, CEA-Leti CEO said. “This collaboration with imec following earlier innovation- collaboration agreements with the Fraunhofer Group for

EV Group partners with Plessey to drive GaN-on-Silicon monolithic microLED technology for AR applications

Plessey, a leading developer of award-winning optoelectronic technology solutions, announces a collaboration with EV Group (EVG), a leading supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, to bring high-performance GaN-on-Silicon (GaN-on-

Production Wafer Bonding System. Wafer-to-wafer alignment and wafer bonding processes up to 300mm for volume manufacturing are all performed in one fully automated platform. John Whiteman, VP of Engineering at Plessey, explained: ‘The modular design

of the GEMINI system is ideal for our requirements. Having the pre-treatment, clean, alignment and bonding enabled within one system means higher yield and throughput in production. The excellent service provided by EVG has been critical to bringing the system online quickly and efficiently.’ Paul Lindner, executive technology director at EV Group, commented: ‘We are honoured that Plessey selected our state-of-the-art GEMINI system to support their ambitious technology development roadmaps and high-volume production plans.’ This announcement marks another key milestone for Plessey in investment in production-grade equipment to bring GaN-on-Si based monolithic microLED products to market.

Si) monolithic microLED technology to the mass market. microLEDs are the key optical technology for next- generation AR applications. Plessey has purchased a GEMINI® production wafer bonding system from EVG to enable bonding and alignment at Plessey’s fabrication facility in Plymouth, UK. This enables Plessey to bond its GaN-on-Si microLED arrays to the panel’s backplane at a wafer level, and with the high level of alignment precision necessary to enable very small pixel dimensions. EVG’s patented SmartView®NT Automated Bond Alignment System technology is suitable for Plessey’s requirements because it allows face-to-face alignment of the wafers with very high precision. A maximum level of automation and process integration is achieved by the GEMINI Automated

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Latest News Volvo Cars and Baidu join forces to develop and manufacture autonomous driving cars

Volvo Cars has reached an agreement with Baidu, the leading Chinese internet search provider, to jointly develop electric and fully autonomous drive-compatible cars with the aim of mass producing them for China, the largest car market in the world.

a strong development in autonomous drive in China, where Baidu is a leading player, and the market there offers huge opportunities for us as the supplier of choice for autonomous fleets.” “Since its founding a century

ago, Volvo has kept safety as its core mission, pushing safety development forward with significant innovations. We are very glad that Volvo Cars has established a strategic partnership with Baidu in the development of a fully autonomous car compatible with our autonomous driving platform Apollo. We look forward to working closely with Volvo to provide the world with the safest auto products for the benefit of humankind.” Said Dr. Ya-Qin Zhang, President of Baidu. In the coming years, Volvo Cars will seek to capitalise on and lead the disruption currently underway in the industry. This ambition is reflected in a new set of longer term ambitions that Volvo Cars announced earlier this year, which focus on establishing a leading position in electrification, autonomous drive and new models of car ownership and access. The Baidu agreement serves as a further proof point for its autonomous driving ambitions. Volvo Cars aims to become a global and diversified mobility service provider and sees autonomous drive as a key growth area as part of this strategy. By the middle of the next decade it expects to generate one third of all annual sales from autonomous cars.

Volvo Cars is the first foreign car maker to collaborate this closely with Baidu to jointly develop customized autonomous driving cars. The partnership will allow both companies to develop and sell these vehicles to potential Chinese customers, underlining the Swedish company’s aspirations to be the supplier of choice for mobility companies globally. Volvo Cars and Baidu will pool resources to take the next step and prepare for mass manufacturing of fully electric and autonomous cars, according to the agreement. The collaboration with Baidu is Volvo Cars first of its kind in China and it was deliberately chosen as a partner by Baidu because of its long-standing safety credentials. Based on the collaboration agreement, Baidu will contribute with its Apollo autonomous driving platform. Volvo will provide access to its expertise and advanced technologies of the car industry. Industry forecasts show that China is likely to become the single largest market for autonomous cars in the world in coming decades. Market research firm IHS Markit predicted* earlier this year that around 14.5 million autonomous cars will be sold in China by 2040, on a total global volume of around 33 million. “With Baidu we take a big step forward in commercialising our autonomous compatible cars, built on Volvo’s industry- leading safety technology,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars. “There is

New-Tech Magazine Europe l 15

When logic goes democratic: The potential of spintronic and plasmonic majority gates.

Iuliana Radu, imec

While CMOS device scaling is being pushed to its ultimate limits, researchers at imec are also exploring alternative solutions that break away from the fundamentals of classical scaling. They are looking into disruptive technologies that could reduce cost, limit power consumption, optimize performance per circuit area or allow for very high operation throughput. With these technologies, they do not aim to replace CMOS circuits, but rather complement them in a hybrid, multi-device architecture. In these architectures, the new technologies will be used to do what they are good at, e.g. high-performance computing, or ultralow-power operation. One of these ‘beyond-CMOS’ options are majority gates, a paradigm- shifting technology that completely

changes the way we build circuits. In conventional computational circuits, complex logic operation is performed through combinations of several NAND gates. In NAND-based logic, an output is false only if all its inputs are true. In hardware, the NAND gates are implemented using transistors. Majority gates are ‘democratic’ devices that return true if more than 50% of their inputs are true. In their most simple implementation, they use three inputs and one output. If, for example, two inputs are in a true state (‘1’) and a third one is in a false state (‘0’), the expected state at the output is true. This majority gate operation can be summarized in a truth table, listing all possible configurations of the input variables (i.e., ‘1’ and ‘0’) together with the result of the operation of those values. With these majority gates, logic AND

and OR operations can be emulated. They enable arithmetic circuits that promise to be much more compact and energy efficient than the conventional NAND-based circuits. Although majority gates can be built using standard transistors, more efficient devices could be made by incorporating other concepts. The imec team is investigating and benchmarking three different implementations of majority gates: spin-wave majority gates, spin torque majority gates and plasmonic majority gates. They differ in the way the information is encoded and processed in the device, and in the way the information is converted from the classical circuits based on transistors to these novel devices. This brings along different challenges, but also gives each of the devices distinct advantages –

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in terms of speed, power and area consumption, or in the ease with which circuits can be built. Below, Iuliana Radu and the imec exploratory device team review the status of the three different majority gates. Spin-wave majority gates: compact and ultra- low power Spin-wave majority gates belong to the family of spintronic devices, which exploit the collective magnetization state in a ferromagnet rather than the charge of individual electrons to perform logic operations. In a magnetic material, the magnetization can oscillate, creating nanoscale waves of magnetization that propagate, the so-called spin waves or magnons. Spin waves have wavelengths in the micrometer to nanometer range and frequencies in the gigahertz (GHz) to terahertz (THz) range. Majority gate operation relies on the interference of (at least) three of these spin waves. The information can be encoded in either the amplitude or the phase (0 or π) of the waves. Using the phase to encode information is the most natural way leading to majority gates, since the phase of the wave after interference is simply the majority of the phases of the individual waves before interference. Spin-wave majority gates promise a significant area and power reduction per computing throughput. Let’s take the example of a one-bit adder, a circuit that performs the addition of two binary bits. In CMOS technology, building such a circuit requires about 25 transistors. An equivalent wave computing circuit only requires 4 waveguides and 5 transducers to perform the same operation – transducers being the components that bridge between

Table 1: Truth table of a simple ‘3 input 1 output’ majority gate.

imec concluded that the spin-wave circuits take on average 400 times lower power and 3.5 times less area than their CMOS counterparts.

CMOS and the spin-wave domain. When benchmarking the spin wave majority gates against CMOS circuits by using micromagnetic simulations,

Fig 1: Large-scale prototype of a spin-wave majority gate.

New-Tech Magazine Europe l 17

range. The targeted dimensions, sub-micrometer, and the resonance frequencies in the GHz range bring these piezoelectric actuators to the frontier of nano-electromechanical systems (or NEMS) research. Recently, imec proposed based on modeling, the first nanoscale design of a spin-wave majority gate with a total area of 0.05µm2 utilizing magnetoelectric cells (as shown in the figure below). Imec is now working towards an experimental demonstration. In recognition of how ambitious this project is, a European multi-national consortium formed by nine research teams and coordinated by imec has been awarded an EU Horizon 2020-FET-Open research grant, CHIRON, to help demonstrate these devices. Plasmonic majority gates: speed champions Recently, a novel type of wave-based majority gates has gained attention: the plasmonic majority gate. In these devices, the key actors are plasmons which can be thought of as waves in a metal’s free electron gas. These waves propagate in plasmonic waveguides (nothing other than insulating materials sandwiched between metal stripes), which can be used as the building blocks for majority gates. For a sketch of a plasmonic majority gate, see the figure below. Similar to spin waves, the plasmonicmajority gate operation is based on the interference of the propagating plasmons. They carry the information in their phase, at frequencies exceeding THz – which is about three orders of magnitude faster than CMOS-based electronics. Although less energy efficient, they show tremendous potential for high-throughput computation and ultrafast operation. Recently, imec researchers in collaboration with Georgia Institute

Fig 2: Simulation of the operation of a nanoscale spin-wave majority gate. (a) At t=0ns, the inputs are set to ‘110’; (b) at t=0.8ns; and (c) at t=3.2ns, the output magnetization is stabilized to the ‘1’ state, correctly detecting the majority result. Total area of the device is about 0.05µm2.

Experimental validation of majority gate operation was lacking until recently - when researchers at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, in collaboration with the imec team, demonstrated a first prototype of a spin-wave majority gate [1]. This first prototype is bulky and required the use of a material that is difficult to process industrially: yttrium iron garnet. However, the device fulfils the basic description of such a majority gate. The logic information is encoded in the phase of the input spin waves while the phase of the output signal represents the majority of the three phase states of the spin waves in the three inputs.

The imec team is currently working on scaling down the spin-wave majority gate devices towards the few nanometer range. The scaled devices would also require efficient transducers.Therefore, the imec team is actively researching components as spin-wave transducers, based for example on spin-orbit torques or the magnetoelectric effect. Transducers based on the magnetoelectric effect consist of piezoelectric and magnetostrictive ferromagnetic layers and couple voltage signals to magnetic ones via strain as the intermediate link. Such magnetoelectric transducers promise to operate efficiently for devices in the sub-micrometer

Fig 3: Plasmonic majority gate: (left) schematic representation and (right) output of a single stage majority logic gate displaying the results for the case of majority logic 0.

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of Technology, USA have designed plasmonic majority gates based on electromagnetic simulations [2]. A single stage majority gate produces the output at an extremely low delay of only 50 fs, orders of magnitude faster than conventional transistor- based logic. When building logic circuits, a must-have is the ability to cascade devices and have the computation propagate from one stage to the next. The proposal includes three levels of cascading stages without significant loss of the plasmon field intensity, a first of its kind. One of the main experimental challenges for plasmonic majority gates is to excite and inject plasmons into plasmonic waveguides, and to do this ‘on chip’. Imec is actively working towards such a device. Recently, an on-chip plasmon source has been experimentally demonstrated. This source is ultra-fast, compatible with high throughput computation [3]. At the heart of this plasmon source, there is an antenna-coupled tunnel junction (see figure below) which converts tunneling electrons into plasmons in a fully controllable way. The device features both passive and active tunability, and is capable of unidirectional light emission. The team is now working on coupling these devices to plasmonic waveguides and injecting propagating waveguide modes with minimum injection loss. The road towards a full plasmonic majority gate experimental demonstration is, however, long and challenging. One of the major missing components today is a circuit that allows to convert the analog output signal from the wave- based circuits to a digital signal that is compatible with regular CMOS- based circuits. This analog-to-digital converter should also enable down- conversion from THz, the operation

Fig 4: (Left) Imec’s ultra-small antenna-coupled tunnel junction demonstrating unidirectional light emission (right).

frequency of the plasmonic circuit, to GHz, the operation frequency of standard CMOS, and do this at the lowest possible energy. Spin torque majority gates: easily ‘cascadable’ Just like spin-wave majority gates, spin torque majority gates belong to the spintronic device family. In a spin torque majority gate, the information is encoded in magnetic domain walls – interfaces that separate regions with different magnetization direction. Based

on quantum interactions between electrons (known as exchange), the domain walls propagate and interact, and the majority magnetization direction wins. The majority gate itself consists of a cross-shaped free layer that is common to 4 magnetic tunnel junctions (3 inputs, 1 output). The magnetization direction of the 3 ‘input’ free layers is switched using spin transfer torque, provided by a current through each of the magnetic tunnel junctions. The output state is measured via tunneling magnetoresistance.

Fig 5: Spin torque majority gate: (left) schematic representation and (right) integrated device.

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Previously, the imec team validated functioning of spin torque majority gates through micromagnetic simulations. Meanwhile, first devices have been built on 300mm wafers (see figure below), and part of the truth table has been demonstrated. Based on materials and process optimization, it is expected that full device function will be soon demonstrated. In general, spin torque majority gate circuits are compact and could target low-power operation. However, compared to spin-wave based operation, they consume more energy. A major advantage of spin torque majority gates compared to wave-based circuits is the ‘ease’ with which circuits can be designed. Circuits are typically made up of multiple computational stages, and cascading between devices, as mentioned above, has to happen in order to build meaningful logic circuits. In hardware, this means that the output of one set of devices goes to the input of the next stage of devices. Wave-based majority gates rely on the interference of waves, and these waves can easily flow back into the circuit. And this makes the design of ‘cascadable’ circuits very challenging. Spin torque majority gate operation relies on the interaction between domain walls. Domain walls are less likely to be channeled back into the device. Based on modeling, imec has proposed special implementations which reduce this effect even further. Conclusion In this article, we have reviewed the status, challenges and benefits of three types of majority gates: spin- wave majority gates and plasmonic majority gates – both wave-based computational circuits – and spin torque majority gates. With these beyond-CMOS technologies, low-

Fig 6: exploratory device team imec

R&D Engineer, currently working on the fabrication of spin torque majority gate devices; Adrien Vaysset, Researcher, in charge of the micromagnetic modeling of spin torque majority gates; Iuliana Radu, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, leading the beyond CMOS activities at imec; Christoph Adelmann, Principal Member of Technical Staff, doing research on materials and devices for spintronic logic and interconnects; and Florin Ciubotaru, Senior Researcher, focusing on the development of logic, radio-frequency and sensor devices based on magnetic spin- related phenomena. References [1] ‘Experimental prototype of a spin-wave majority gate’, T. Fischer et al., Applied Physics Letters 110, 152401 (2017) [2] ‘Proposal for nanoscale cascaded plasmonic majority gates for non- Boolean computation’, Dutta S. et al., Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 17866 [3] ‘Electrically driven unidirectional optical nanoantennas’, Gurunarayanan S. et al., Nano Lett. 2017, 17, 7433−7439

power and compact arithmetic circuits can be built, that completely change the way we build logic circuits. Once mature, they are envisioned to perform, in a hybrid architecture, specific functions – depending on their individual strengths. While spin-wave based majority gates promise to be compact and ultralow power, the main asset of the low- power spin torque majority gates is the ease with which multiple-stage circuits can be built. On the longer term, plasmonic majority gates have the potential to be used for applications that require extremely high throughput and speed, and for which energy efficiency is a second consideration. Acknowledgements This work is the result of the collaborative effort of the imec exploratory device team, which includes, from left to right, Surya Gurunarayanan, PhD student, focusing on electrically-driven nanophotonic devices and circuits; Odysseas Zografos, R&D Engineer, working on simulations and benchmarking for spin waves, and on benchmarking for spin torque majority gates; Danny Wan, Senior

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Great things come in small packages: enabling augmented & virtual reality’s next wave

MOLEX

Close cousins, augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) hold great promise across a wide range of industries and applications: gaming and entertainment, warehousing and logistics, healthcare and medtech, industrial and infrastructure maintenance, retail showcasing, manufacturing, and more. In fact, according to market intelligence provider, IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide, total global spending on AR/VR products and services is expected to soar “from $11.4 billion in 2017 to nearly $215 billion 2021, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 113.2% along the way”. But first, AR/VR needs to overcome several technical limitations, including the size and weight of

headsets, their limited field of view, their need to be tethered to computers and difficulties in tracking the real world. Challenges concerning electronic subassemblies also impact the overall user experience, for instance, space and weight constraints to help avoid headsets or smart glasses being overly cumbersome. AR/VR’s potential in healthcare & medtech According to industry authorities, AR/VR is poised to revolutionise the operating theatre. Surgeons already use AR, particularly in neurosurgery, but the most common method, in which they refer to separate screens as they operate, forcing them to continually look away from the patient and refocus, can be

distracting or disruptive in a field where intense focus is literally a life- or-death requirement. As a result, ‘see-through’ AR headsets or smart glasses that enable information and digital content to be overlaid directly in the surgeon’s field of view, much like a pilot’s ‘head-up display’ (HUD), offer many valuable benefits for surgery. But to be more effective and compelling, AR headsets need to become more portable and lightweight. For such devices to become a natural extension of the surgeon’s senses, they must be light, mobile, comfortable and functional – potentially for extended periods of time. AR efficiencies in warehousing & logistics

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Several global logistics companies have run pilots trialing AR technology, with global logistics leader, DHL announcing plans to implement AR smart glasses as standard for order picking in its supply chain warehouses. Because live digital data can be delivered from the company’s computer network direct to the smart glasses, workers have easy access to the information they need, when they need it, via a hands-free method, eliminating the use of handheld scanners and paperwork. In its own trials, DHL has seen a 15 percent increase in productivity and improved accuracy rates. Industry analysts are optimistic that the use of AR smart glasses will continue to increase over the next few years, boosting the AR/VR market. Developments in technology will continue to fuel this growth – and the size of the devices is a key aspect that calls for improvement. To help encourage the implementation of AR/VR technology in new applications, improvements in the size and style of smart glasses to make them more appealing to users are necessary to overcome workers’ lingering reluctance to adopt these new tools. Addressing space constraints for AR/VR devices Molex is helping break down some of the barriers in AR/VR technology with space-saving products and capabilities. For example, its Application Specific Electronics Package (ASEP) solution is an innovative electronics packaging technology, developed by Molex

Figure 1: Surgeon using AR via a screen

process of electronic subassemblies, ASEP enables engineers to develop AR/VR designs that are smaller in size and lighter in weight, while still delivering high performance and cost effectiveness. “ASEP integrates electronic

engineers, that combines the advantages of printed circuit boards, moulded interconnect devices (MID) and flexible circuit technology into one highly versatile, compact and cost effective solution. Transforming the manufacturing

Figure 2: AR smart glasses delivering hands-free information

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miniature hinge connectors. This innovative component could have an impact on applications such as AR smart glasses, by enabling power and data to be transmitted from an electronic subassembly in the arm of the glasses to the lenses. Additionally, to help meet the size and portability requirements of AR/VR applications, Molex offers custom internal antennas, MID/LDS (laser direct structuring) capabilities (which offer superior flexibility and geometric 3D design freedom), printed flexible circuits and a wide range of microminiature connectors capable of overcoming any size or weight limitation. Advances in AR/VR technology are resulting in nothing short of a paradigm shift across a range of industries – and innovations in electrical circuity will be paramount to AR/VR’s continued trajectory.

Figure 3: Warehouse tools replaced by AR smart glasses: scanner

functions into a single device that becomes the backbone of an electronics system,” explained Victor Zaderej, Molex Advanced Engineering Development Manager. “It can help elevate AR/VR to the

next technological level by offering creative packaging designs that solve challenging size and weight requirements.” Molex is also developing another revolutionary technology, its

Figure 5: AR smart glasses: ASEP-integrated circuitry and electronic components and miniature hinge connector

Figure 4: Warehouse tools replaced by AR smart glasses: tablet

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