Descripción del proyecto
Los espines atómicos podrían impulsar los sectores de la computación y las TIC
Hace casi medio siglo, Gordon Moore, cofundador de Intel, predijo que el número de transistores en un chip se duplicaría cada dos años, aumentado drásticamente la potencia computacional al tiempo que se reducían los costes. Su predicción se cumplió durante décadas, pero ha empezado a observarse un declive progresivo, debido en gran parte a los problemas de energía y calor asociados al amontonamiento de múltiples transistores en espacios cada vez más pequeños. El proyecto SPINAPSE, financiado con fondos europeos, sigue el ejemplo de la naturaleza, obteniendo información a partir del estudio del increíble bajo consumo energético del cerebro, a pesar de su gran velocidad y potencia de «cálculo». El equipo está desarrollando un nuevo «hardware» inspirado en el cerebro y basado en los espines atómicos para elaborar pioneros paradigmas informáticos en el sector de las TIC.
Objetivo
The growing trend in global electricity consumption has created a new challenge for materials-based science: to find computational paradigms toward ICT that are not only smaller and faster, but also energy-efficient. A new source of inspiration is the human brain, which consumes a mere 20 W of energy, while a supercomputer consumes about 10 MW. The emerging field of brain-inspired hardware aims at utilizing physical phenomena in high-quality materials toward pattern recognition and energy- efficient ICT. The goal of this project is to adapt the principles of magnetism toward brain-inspired hardware, utilizing individual and coupled atomic spins. The ultimate aim of SPINAPSE is to probe the feasibility and create proof-of-concept systems, which demonstrate computational principles such as pattern recognition. I define three objectives, which address understanding magnetism in the three most prominent neural models: (1) Hopfield model, (2) Perceptron, (3) Reservoir computing. The strategy is to utilize the so-called spin workbench, based on low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, as a platform to create tailored spin arrays with atomic-scale control. This method combines single atom magnetic imaging and atom-scale fabrication, enabling the control of the magnetic interactions and dynamics between ensembles of atoms, atom by atom. We will construct bottom-up magnetic nanostructures to implement all-spin and atomic-scale based neural hardware. We will deliver a new state of the art in magnetic imaging, including (a) developing the spin workbench with a newly built 30 mK magnetic STM facility, defining a new state of the art in magnetic imaging worldwide, and (b) time-resolved imaging to probe the magnetization dynamics of stochastic spin arrays at milliKelvin temperatures. The outcome of SPINAPSE will deliver a new state of the art, new fundamental understandings, and create proof-of-concept technologies for atomic-scale brain-inspired hardware.
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencepattern recognition
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcomputer hardwaresupercomputers
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopyscanning tunneling microscopy
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
6525 XZ Nijmegen
Países Bajos