Spintronics intelligent devices

Intelligent computing paradigms have become increasingly important for the efficient processing of massive amounts of data. However, using traditional electronic devices to implement these intelligent paradigms is currently mismatched and limited by their energy, area, and speed. Spintronics, which exploits the magnetic and electrical properties of electrons, could break through these limitations and bring new possibilities to electrical devices. In particular, the tunneling magnetoresistance effect, merging quantum and spintronics, enables spintronic devices to be compatible with standard integrated circuits with a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) design, showing great potential for implementing hardware-based intelligent frameworks. In this review, we introduce the specific capabilities of MTJs, including nonvolatility, stochasticity, plasticity, and nonlinearity, which are highly favorable in artificial intelligence algorithms. We then present how these devices could impact the development of intelligent computing, including in-memory computing, probabilistic computing, and neuromorphic computing. Finally, we discuss their challenges and perspectives in intelligent hardware implementations.