Descrizione del progetto
Gli spin atomici potrebbero fornire energia all’industria delle TIC e dell’informatica
Quasi mezzo secolo fa, il cofondatore di Intel, Gordon Moore, predisse che il numero di transistor su un chip sarebbe raddoppiato a cadenza biennale, aumentando drasticamente la potenza di calcolo e riducendo i costi. Tale previsione, rimasta valida per decenni, è in graduale declino, soprattutto a causa dei problemi di energia e calore associati all’assemblaggio di così tanti transistor in spazi sempre più piccoli. Il progetto SPINAPSE, finanziato dall’UE, sta seguendo l’esempio della natura, traendo spunti dal consumo energetico incredibilmente basso del cervello nonostante la velocità e la potenza sorprendentemente elevate dei suoi «calcoli». Il gruppo sta sviluppando un nuovo hardware ispirato al cervello basato su spin atomici per paradigmi computazionali TIC pionieristici.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencepattern recognition
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcomputer hardwaresupercomputers
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopyscanning tunneling microscopy
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
6525 XZ Nijmegen
Paesi Bassi