SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2015.245

Non-Boolean computing with nanomagnets for

computer vision applications

Supplementary Material for

Non-boolean computing with nanomagnets for computer vision applications
Sanjukta Bhanja, D. K. Karunaratne, Ravi Panchumarthy, Srinath Rajaram, Sudeep Sarkar

This PDF file includes:

Supplementary text
1. Simulation experiments for the design of magnetic system.
2. Derivation and development of Virtual Vortex Model.
3. Derivation and development of magnetic Hamiltonian.
4. Layout for Nanomagnetic Disks.
5. Mechanism to Deselect the Cells.
6. Speed Comparison with State-Of-The-Art.
7. Fabrication Process.
References.

1
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY | www.nature.com/naturenanotechnology

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Simulation Experiments for the Design of Magnetic System

Researchers have studied several magnetization states in permalloy nano-disks. Depending on the disk
size, many meta-stable magnetization states such as single domain state, C-state and vortex states have
been observed. Cowburn et al. 1 have fabricated isolated nanomagnetic disks of diameters ranging from
55 nm to 500 nm and thickness ranging from 6 nm to 15 nm, and have experimentally identified a phase
diagram between vortex state and single domain state. In 26 the authors have reported a phase diagram
to show the dependence of the different meta-stable states with respect to disk diameters and thicknesses.
These phase diagrams indicate that the magnetization state of a nanomagnetic disk is dependent on the dimension of the disks. We have chosen the dimensions for the nanomagnetic disk near this phase boundary
in the vortex state region to study the dependence of the dipolar coupling energy between the nanomagnetic
disks and the magnetization states of the nanomagnetic disks. In our study, we found that a nanomagnetic
disk can exist either in the single domain state or in the vortex state depending on the coupling energy between the neighbouring magnets. When the magnets are closer to each other the coupling energy between
the nanomagnetic disks would hold the magnetization state of the nanomagnetic disks in single domain
state and if they are separated far apart, the exchange energy, anisotropy energy and demagnetization
energy is dominant and the nanomagnetic disk would settle to vortex state.
We have used LLG v2.46 micromagnetic simulation suite 7 to observe the coupling energy dependence on the magnetization states of nanomagnetic disks with diameter of 110 nm and thickness of 11 nm,
by varying the centre-to-centre distance between the nanomagnetic disks from 110 nm to 360 nm in steps
of 5 nm. Table 1 shows material properties and experimental parameters used in the simulation model.
As initial condition, we applied an external magnetic field in the in-plane direction, such that the magnetic
spins in the nanomagnetic disk would align with the external magnetic field resulting in a single domain
state. Once the external magnetic field is removed the magnetic spins would relax to its energy minimum.
This external magnetic field can be in the form of stray fields from the neighbouring nanomagnetic disks.
If the magnetic stray fields are stronger, the nanomagnetic disk would remain in a single domain state. If
the magnetic stray fields are weak, the magnetization of the nanomagnetic disk would settle to vortex state.
For each separation, the magnetization states, the magnetic coupling energies and the magnetization state
vectors were extracted for every disk.
Supplementary Fig. 1 shows the plot of the measured magnetic coupling energy with respect to the
centre-to-centre distance between the two nanomagnetic disks. It is evident from the plot that the magnetic
coupling energy is high when the centre-to-centre distance is small. We have also observed that, when
the centre-to-centre distance was small the magnetization states of nanomagnetic disks were in single
domain state. As the centre-to-centre distance increases the magnetic coupling energy falls and beyond
250 nm, where the magnetic coupling energy is close to zero, the nanomagnetic disk settles to a vortex
state. Analysing this data we can conclude that when both the nanomagnetic disks are in single domain
state the coupling energy has a high value and when both the nanomagnetic disks are in vortex state the
coupling energy has minimal value. Using this kind of LLG simulation, we built a 2 state (vortex, single
domain) coupling energy model that approximates the LLG results. See equation 17 for a look ahead.

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Pairwise coupling energies (in J)

2.0
LLG Simulation Data

1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
1.0

1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Disk Seperation from centre-to-centre (in nm)

Supplementary Figure 1: Pairwise coupling energy between disks by varying the centre-to-centre spacing for disks
with diameter 110 nm and thickness 11 nm using LLG simulations.

Supplementary Table 1: Material properties and experimental parameters used in simulation model

Parameters

Description

Value

Shape

Shape of MTJ

circular

Diameter

110nm

FM1

Pinned layer material

Co/Pd

NM

Barrier layer material

MgO

FM2

Free layer material

NiFe

tf l

Thickness of free layer

100A

tbl

Thickness of barrier layer

35A

tpl

Thickness of pinned layer

40A

Nx , Ny , Nz

Unit element size

3x3x3nm3

Damping coefficient of free layer

0.015

Temperature

300K

Ms

Saturation magnetization of free layer

800.0e3 A/m

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Supplementary Figure 2: Conceptual idea of the virtual vortex model. The vector field is a cross section of a X-Y
plane. The vector D represents the magnetization state in a nanomagnetic disk. (a) Single domain state. (b) C-state.
(c) Vortex state.

Virtual Vortex Model

We first need a way to mathematically characterize the distribution pattern of magnetic vectors on a magnetic disk using a small number of parameters, ideally one. For this, we propose the virtual vortex model.
In our experiments, we observed single domain and vortex states as two stable magnetization states as our
nanomagnetic disks dimension lie in the phase boundary. However, larger circular nanomagnetic disks can
exhibit various configurations. Virtual vortex model is an effort to develop a comprehensive magnetization
representation spanning single domain, C-state and vortex states in the same framework. In the single
domain state the magnetic spins in the nanomagnetic disk are aligned in-plane direction. Whereas, in the
vortex state, the magnetic spins have a curling configuration around the disk centre.
In the virtual vortex model, the magnetization of a nanomagnetic disk is represented with a virtual
vector field. The field has a curling formation around its virtual vortex centre. As the vectors in the field
approaches closer to the virtual vortex centre they gradually align from in-plane direction to out-of-plane
direction. The state of any given magnetic disk can be approximated by a circular piece of this virtual vortex
model. See supplementary Fig. 2 for an illustration. A magnetic disk in vortex state will be represented by
a disk that aligns with the virtual vortex and disks with single domain arrangements will be at the periphery
of the virtual vortex model. Intermediate states, if any, can be represented by other locations in the plane.
The disk centre could be between the vortex centre and at a point that is at infinite distance. If the disk
centre was at an infinite distance the vector field in the nanomagnetic disk would have a unidirectional inplane configuration, representing the single domain state. Whereas if the disk centre was on the vortex
core, the vector field in the nanomagnetic disk would have a curling configuration around the nanomagnets
disk centre. If the disk centre is at a point in-between the disk centre and an infinite point, the vector field
would have a C-state configuration. supplementary Fig. 2 illustrates the concept of the virtual vortex model
incorporating possible magnetization states (single domain state, C-state, vortex state).

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b
y

r
mi
D
vi

0,0,0
K 1

xa

Z
Supplementary Figure 3: Vector diagram of a magnetic element m1 and vortex centre v1 of the magnetic vector M.
The black dot represents the magnetic element and the red point represents the vortex center.

In the virtual vortex model, the nanomagnetic disk is segmented into magnetic elements and the
magnetization of each magnetic element is represented with a single vector (magnetic vector - M = mii +
mj j + mk k ). We have assumed that as long as the size and the material of the magnetic elements in a
nanomagnetic disk are similar, the magnitude of the magnetization will remain constant but the direction of
the magnetic vector will vary along the normal plane to the line segment connecting the magnetic element
and the vortex centre. We have modelled a magnetic vector of a magnetic element that is at an infinite
distance away from its vortex centre to have an in-plane direction (the k -component of the magnetic vector
will be zero). As the magnetic element gets closer to the vortex centre the k -component of the magnetic
vector exponentially increases. The magnetic element at vortex center will only have k -component in the
magnetic vector (i -component and j -component are zero).
The vector diagram in supplementary Fig. 3 represents the vector notations used for and to derive
the virtual vortex model. The circle in grey in supplementary Fig. 3 signifies a nanomagnetic disk with its
centre at point (a, b, 0) and a radius of r. The black dot on the circle signifies a magnetic element, mi , at
the point (x, y, 0) and it is represented with the vector R. The vector M represents the magnetization of the
magnetic element. The vector M has its vortex centre, vi , at the point (m, n, 0) and it is represented with
the vector P. The vector from the vortex centre vi to the magnetic element mi is represented by the vector
D. The vector K starts at point (0, 0, 0) and is a unit vector in the Z-axis direction.
The vectors in supplementary Fig. 3 are expressed as:

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R = xi + yj + 0k

(1)

P = mi + nj + 0k

(2)

D=RP

(3)

K = 0i + 0j + k

(4)

The magnetic vector M is expressed as:




KD
M = pK + q
|K||D|

(5)

where is based on the size and magnetic material of the magnetic element mi and p2 + q 2 = 1.
We have modelled the amplitude p of the magnetic vector M to be an inverse exponential to the
magnitude of vector D. The amplitude p is then expressed as:

p=e

|D|

(6)

where is the distance along the vector D and it is a constant.

 To keep
 the magnitude of the magnetic
KD
vector M constant, we have reduced the amplitude of the vector |K||D|
by factor of q. The amplitude q is
modelled as:

q=

q
2|D|
1e

Substituting the values of p and q to equation 5, we have expressed the magnetic vector M as:

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(7)


M= e


q
2|D|
KD
K + ( (1 e ))
| K||D|

|D|

(8)

It is evident from equation 8 that the vector M is only dependent on the vector D. Therefore, we can
predict the magnetization state of a nanomagnetic disk with the magnitude and the direction of vector D. (A
vector can be expressed as a combination of its magnitude and the angle it makes with the X-axis.) If the
magnitude of the vector D is |D| and the angle it makes with the X-axis is , then the magnetic vector M is
dependent on |D| and and could be expressed as:


M(|D| , ) = e

|D|


q
2|D|
KD
K + ( (1 e ))
| K||D|

(9)

We have used the concept of the virtual vortex model to build a magnetic Hamiltonian for the magnetic
system proposed in this paper.

Development of Magnetic Hamiltonian

The magnetic coprocessor is designed to be a 2-dimensional grid with N xN nanomagnetic disks. These
nanomagnetic disks are fabricated in critical dimensions such that they tend to be in single domain state
when strongly coupled with neighbouring nanomagnetic disks and in vortex state when weakly coupled with
neighbouring nanomagnetic disks. Hence, we abstract the magnetization state variable S whose magnitude
can be 0 for vortex state and 1 for single domain state. Magnetic pattern in any given magnetic disk is first
quantified using the virtual vortex model (the parameter D), which is then mapped into vortex and single
domain states. Note the single domain state has direction, so we need a vector of magnitude one to
represent it instead of just a scalar state. The magnetic Hamiltonian is designed and developed to estimate
the energy of the magnetic system based on the magnetization state variable (S) and the centre-to-centre
distance (rij ) between the nanomagnetic disks. The development of the magnetic Hamiltonian, depicted
in supplementary Fig. 4, has 2 components: (1) Magnetization state abstraction model, (2) Internal energy
and coupling energy approximation.
3.1

Magnetization State Abstraction Model (S)

We represent the magnitude of the magnetization state variable, |S|, either as 0 or 1, where 0
represents a vortex state; 1 represent a single domain state. Note the direction of the variable S captures
the direction of the single domain state. This model is developed using LLG simulation data from section 1
and virtual vortex model from section 2.
The simulation experiments provided 64 instances of nanomagnetic disks with different magnetization
states. We extracted the individual internal magnetic energies and their magnetization vectors for all the
7

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LLG Simulation Experiments: Magnetization spin configuration

vectors

LLG Simulation Experiments: Individual

nano-magnetic disk energies

|D| Computation

Coupling Energy Computation

Input: Magnetization spin vector configurations of 60

nano-magnetic disks extracted from LLG simulations

Input: Magnetization spin vector configurations of 60

nano-magnetic disks extracted from LLG simulations
Process: Compute coupling energies between all pairs
nano-magnetic disks at different center-to-center distances
using Dipole coupling energy equation

Process: Compute |D| using virtual vortex model

Output: Magnetization state representation of 64 nanomagnetic disks with |D| (Range: 0 to infinity)

Output: Coupling energies between all combinations of

nano-magnetic disk (64C2 * 32 = 64,512 energies)

Magnetization State Representation (D to S)

Input: Individual nano-magnetic disk energies extracted
from LLG simulations and |D| values computed earlier
Process: Convert the |D| values into either 0 or 1, by
finding relationship between disk energies and |D| values
Output: Magnetization state representation of 64 nanomagnetic disks with |S| (Either 0 or 1)

Coupling Energy Approximation

Individual Disk Energy Approximation

Input: Individual nano-magnetic disk energies extracted
from LLG simulations and |S| equation

Input: Coupling energies computed earlier and |S|

equation

Process: Estimate by numerical approximation the

individual disk energy in terms of |S|

Process: Estimate by numerical approximation the

coupling energy in terms of |S| and center-to-center
distance

Output: Individual disk energy approximation

Output: Coupling energy approximation

Supplementary Figure 4: Flow chart of the several steps involved in the development of the magnetic Hamiltonian for
this computer vision problem.

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nanomagnetic disks. The LLG micromagnetic simulation segments the nanomagnetic disk into elements
and calculates the magnetic energy and the direction of the magnetic moment for each element. The
magnitude of the magnetization is a constant value for all elements with the same dimensions and material.
The direction of the magnetization is a variable represented with a unit vector. supplementary Fig. 5 shows
two such magnetizations of nanomagnetic disks. We analyzed the individual internal magnetic energies and
observed that the nanomagnetic disks in single domain state had much higher energy values than in vortex
state. This observation agrees well with our design principles of the nanomagnetic disk in supplementary
section 1.
Based on the virtual vortex model in section 2, we could represent the magnetization of nanomagnetic
disk with the vector pointing from the vortex core to the disk centre (vector D in equation 8). We have
calculated the magnitude (|D|) and the direction () of the vector D for all the nanomagnetic disks. The
graph in supplementary Fig. 6 represents the relationship between internal magnetic energy and the |D|
value of the nanomagnetic disks extracted from the LLG simulation experiments. The observations from
LLG simulation experiments show that the internal magnetic energies of individual nanomagnetic disks in
single domain state have much higher energy values compared to vortex state. Similarly it is evident from
the graph in supplementary Fig. 6 that when the nanomagnetic disk has a single domain state its internal
magnetic energy is higher and in-turn has large |D| values whereas in the vortex state the internal magnetic
energy is lower and has small |D| values. The red curve in supplementary Fig. 6 represents the numerical
approximation that best fits the internal magnetic energy values. The values of |D| were derived values
using the virtual vortex model. Based on the simulations presented in the supplementary material section
1, each nanomagnetic disk vector representation at energy minimum are extracted and using the virtual
vortex model the values of |D| are derived. The missing data points from about 5.5 < |D| < 4.8 are
because there are no corresponding energy minimum nanomagnetic disk representations obtained during
our simulations. The magnitude of the magnetization state variable |S| is a step function based on the base
ten logarithmic of the |D| value. This can be expressed as:

0, log |D | <
10
i
|Si | =
1, log10 |Di |

(10)

where |Di | is the magnitude of the vector pointing from the vortex core to the disk centre of the ith
nanomagnetic disk and = 5.1.
3.2

Internal Energy and Coupling Energy Approximation

To find the total energy of a magnetic system in terms of state vector (S) and the distance between the
nanomagnetic disks (rij ), we require the coupling energy of all pairs of nanomagnetic disks in the system.
We used the internal magnetic energies extracted from the LLG simulation experiments and by nu9

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Disk Dimensions in cm

b!

Disk Dimensions in cm

a!

Disk Dimensions in cm

Disk Dimensions in cm

Supplementary Figure 5: Examples of magnetization states. (a) Vortex state. (b) Single domain state.

4 x 10
1.8

Individual Disk Energies (in J)

Step Function Fit

Individual Disk Energies (in J)

1.6
3.5
1.4
3
1.2
2.5
1

0.8
2
0.6
1.5
0.4
1
0.2

0
0.51

1.5

2.5

3.5
7

x 10
0
9

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Distance (|D| in cm) in Logarithmic scale from the virtual vortex core to the disk centre

Supplementary Figure 6: Internal magnetic energy of a nanomagnetic disk with respect to its |D| value.

10

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merical approximation, we have proposed a model to predict the internal magnetic energy of ith nanomagnetic disk when the magnetization state (Si ) is known. The magnitude of the magnetization state |Si | is
either 0 or 1. The model can be expressed as:
Ei = |Si | +

(11)

where = 2.5 107 Joules and = 6.4 108 Joules

The LLG simulation experiments in section 1 provided coupling energies only between two single domain nanomagnetic disks or between two vortex state nanomagnetic disks. But for a magnetic system with
two or more nanomagnetic disks, we used the dipole energy equation 8, 9 to calculate the coupling energies
between all possible combinations of single domain state and vortex state configurations of nanomagnetic
disks and approximated the coupling energy in terms of the state representation Si and Sj .
The simulation experiments provided with vector field representations of the magnetizations of 64
nanomagnetic disks. We selected all possible combinations of two vector fields, placed their disk centres
collinearly and calculated the magnetic coupling energy (E12 ) between the 1st and 2nd nanomagnetic disk
using the following dipole energy equation:


E 12 =

1
N1 N2

X
N1 X
N2
i=1 j=1

i m
j 3(m
i nij )(m
j nij ))
(m
3
rij

(12)

i is a unit vector in the 1st nanomagnetic disk and m

j is a unit vector in the 2nd nanomagnetic
where m
disk. rij is the distance in meters between mi and mj . nij is the unit vector along the direction that connects
mi and mj . N1 is total number of unit vectors in the 1st nanomagnetic disk and N2 is the total number of unit
vectors in the 2nd nanomagnetic disk. is a constant with units of Joules per cubic meter. We calculated the
magnetic coupling energy between two nanomagnetic disks for 32 different separations ranging from 110
nm to 320 nm. At each of the 32 separations, 64 C2 coupling energies were calculated. The total number of
magnetic coupling energies calculated are 64, 512.
We have used these magnetic coupling energies as ground truth and proposed the magnetic coupling
energy between two nanomagnetic disks in terms of the centre-to-centre distance (rij ), state representation
(S) and the direction of the magnetization of the nanomagnetic disk. The numerical approximation is in the
form of ex y. We have used this numerical approximation and proposed a model that is in the quadratic
form to predict the magnetic coupling energy (E12 ) and is expressed as:

E12 = er12 |S1 ||S2 |cos(1 2 ) = er12 S1 S2

11

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(13)

where r12 is the centre-to-centre distance between the 1st and the 2nd nanomagnetic disks. S1
and S2 are the state values of the corresponding |D| values for the 1st and the 2nd nanomagnetic disks
respectively. Similarly 1 and 2 are the directions of the vector D for the 1st and the 2nd nanomagnetic
disks respectively. and takes the values of 3.7 106 Joules and 2.4 105 cm1 .
3.3

Total Magnetic Energy in the Magnetic System

The total magnetic energy in the magnetic system can be calculated from the summation of all the
magnetic coupling energies between each other and summation of the internal magnetic energy of all the
nanomagnetic disks. The total magnetic energy of the magnetic system with N nanomagnetic disks can be
expressed as:

Etotal =

N
N
X
X

Eij +

i=1 j=1+1

N
X

Ei

(14)

i=1

where Eij is the magnetic coupling energy between the ith and j th nanomagnetic disk and Ei is the
internal magnetic energy of the ith nanomagnetic disk.

Etotal =

Eij = erij Si Sj

(15)

Ei = |Si | +

(16)

N X
N
X

erij Si Sj +

i=1 j=i+1

3.4

N
X

|Si | + N

(17)

i=1

Validation

In order to verify the magnetic Hamiltonian expressed in equation 17, we used the data from LLG
simulation experiments. The magnetic Hamiltonian expressed in equation 17 is in the terms of the magnetization state representation (S) and hence we need to verify the magnetization states produced by the
equation 17 are the same as the magnetization states produced in the simulation experiments. The simulation experiments provided the magnetization field vectors at energy minimum at 32 different separations
between two nanomagnetic disks. We calculated the magnetization state representation (S) of each nanomagnet at each of the 32 separations using equation 3.1.

12

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Next, we calculated the energy between two nanomagnetic disks with all the possible magnetization
configurations (64 C2 ) at each of the 32 separations as in the LLG simulation experiments. At each separation
we picked the pair of nanomagnetic disks with minimum energy and calculated their state representations
(Si ). We compared these with state representations obtained from simulation experiments at each of the 32
separations. Except at separations 105 nm and 110 nm, all the remaining states matched., i.e., for example
if the simulation experiments indicate a single domain state at a particular separation, our calculations for
state representation (S) also resulted in a single domain state.

Layout for Nanomagnetic Disks

The objective is to find the 2D placement coordinates of nanomagnets where each of them representing an
edge segment and such that the coupling energy between two magnets i and j, is proportional to pairwise
edge affinity aij . We used an approach based on multidimensional scaling (MDS) 10 . Let a matrix r be
1
constructed out of given weight such that: rij = log(a
, zero diagonal values. We desire to find the 2D
ij )
coordinate of each magnet, represented by the vector xi . Let the matrix of these coordinates for each
magnet be X = [x1 , , xn ]. The distance between the i-th and j-th coordinates should be proportional to
rij . In other words,

(xi xj )T (xi xj ) = c rij .

(18)

xTi xi 2xTi xj + xTj xj = c rij .

(19)

or equivalently

These expressions involving pairwise distances can be consolidated and can be mathematically expressed, as shown in 10 , in the form:

1
XT X = c HrH,
2

where H = (I
the vector of ones.

1
T
N 11 )

(20)

is referred to as the centering operator, with I as the identity matrix and 1 as

These coordinates X can be arrived at by classical MDS scheme 10 . The solution is based on
the singular value decomposition of the centred distance matrix 21 HrH = VVT , where V, are the
eigenvectors and eigenvalues respectively. Assuming that centred distance matrix represents the inner
product distances of a Euclidean distance matrix, the coordinates are given by
13

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d
Edges/
Edges

26
28
29
43
44
47

CALCULATED AFFINITY VALUES

BETWEEN EDGES (aij)

20

8
20
26
28
29
43
44
47
53
CALCULATED AFFINITY VALUES BETWEEN EDGES (aij)

0.00

Edges/
Edges

8
20
26
28
29
43
44
47
CALCULATED DISTANCE MAP BETWEEN DISKS (rij)

53

1.56

0.39

5.70

0.57

6.91

0.00

0.02

0.41

0.13

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.02

0.02

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.00

4.50

1.67

4.24

0.10

0.02

1.66

1.22

20

0.00

0.96 34.08

0.45

0.13

7.46

5.05

26

0.00

0.77

0.01

0.01

0.33

0.03

28

0.00

0.65

0.22

9.26

6.64

29

0.00

3.53

0.41

0.35

43

0.00

0.18

0.27

44

0.00 18.22

47

0.00 122.55

0.00

53

0.00

53

CALCULATED DISTANCE MAP

BETWEEN DISKS(rij)

0.00 208.33 447.70 64.94 245.70 125.04 129.74 112.49 180.00 64.94
0.00 305.04 176.72 179.41 92.00 81.78 120.39 104.88 176.72
0.00 451.03 209.45 379.55 365.57 336.87 409.92 451.03
0.00 263.11 84.85 95.40 120.00 122.55

0.00

0.00 211.79 198.24 143.11 266.77 263.11

0.00 14.16 84.85 69.54 84.85
0.00 75.50 77.66 95.40
0.00 153.14 120.00

Supplementary Figure 7: Schematic of the steps involved in generating the 2D layout of the nanomagnetic disks.
a, Grey scale satellite image of an urban area. b, Edge image with extracted edge segments of (a). c, Zoomed-in
view of a section of labelled edge segments. d, Calculated partial affinity matrix (aij ) between edge segments in (c).
e, Calculated partial distance map matrix (rij ) used for the placement of nanomagnetic disks, based on a statistical
method multidimensional scaling (MDS). f, 2D layout of nanomagnetic disks obtained using MDS from the distance
map matrix (rij ). g, Zoomed-in section of the placement of nanomagnetic disks corresponding to the edge segments
in (c).

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X = (V 2 )T

(21)

Note that we have dropped the constant of proportionality, c, since the energy minimizing solutions
are invariant to scaling of the original function. Our nanomagnet placement solution is given by the first two
rows of XM DS ; each column of this matrix gives us the coordinates of the corresponding nanomagnet to
consider.

Mechanism to Deselect the Cells

Mechanism to deselect the cells from the array has been predicted through LLG simulations shown in
supplementary Fig. 8. For analysis purpose, we have shown a 3X3 programmable array. The magnets
that need to be deselected from the array are between the dotted lines in supplementary Fig. 8. These
nanodisks are deselected by passing a deselection current that takes these magnets into an oscillating
state. The rest of the magnets are then clocked (in z direction) from its current state and released to
settle in its energy minimum state. The coupling energy between the deselected precising magnets with its
neighbour is close to zero. As one can see from supplementary Fig. 8, the final magnetization states of all
nanomagnets in column (2) as well the cell in (2,1) location are deselected and the rest selected magnets
settle in their energy minimum states depending on its neighbour interaction. The isolated magnets settle
in vortex state and coupled magnets settle in single domain state.
Initial state of
3x3 array
before programming

Final state of
3x3 array pattern
Column of magnets
deselected

Legend
Z

Isolated
selected
magnets

Coupled
selected
magnets Y

Supplementary Figure 8: Hardware Schematic. A uniform 2D array of spin-transfer torque based MRAM reconfigurable array with underlying circuitry. Only the selected magnets (magnets in single domain state) corresponding to
an objective function participate in the computation after clocking. The deselected magnets will stay in precessional
state (non-computing state).

15

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Speed Comparison with State-Of-The-Art

IBM ILOG CPLEX running time with 96% sparsity
IBM ILOG CPLEX running time with 98% sparsity
Magnetic Computing (projected)
IBM ILOG CPLEX running time with 96% sparsity - best fit
IBM ILOG CLPEX running time with 98% sparsity - best fit
600

Time Taken in seconds

500

400

300

200

100

0
0

200

400

600
800
# of edge segments

1000

1200

Supplementary Figure 9: Running time using Magnetic computing (projected) and average running times with error
bars over 5 runs of experiments with IBM ILOG CPLEX optimizer version 12.6.1 with 96% sparse affinity matrix such
that each node has an average of 8 neighbours and with 98% sparse affinity matrix such that each node has an average
of 4 neighbours.

Fabrication Process Figures and Tables

Step 1

Substrate (Si)

Step 2

PMMA positive tone resist

Step 3

Electron Beam Exposure

Step 4

MIBK:IPA 1:3 developer

Step 5

Thin-film(s)

Step 6

Liftoff

Supplementary Figure 10: A flow diagram to fabricate single layer nanomagnetic devices.

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Supplementary Figure 11: SEM image of a contamination spot grown by an optimized electron beam.

Supplementary Table 2: RCA cleaning procedure.

Step

Process

Description

Rinse wafer with Deionizer water.

Rinses off any superficial particles.

Dip in NH4 OH : H2 O2 : H2 O (1:1:5) (SC1)

at 60o C for 10 minutes.

Removes insoluble organic contaminants.

Rinse wafer with deionizer water.

Rinses off any residue.

Dip in HF (50:1) for 20 seconds.

Removes native oxide layers.

Rinse the wafer with deionizer water.

Rinses off any residue.

Dip in HCl : H2 O2 : H2 O (1:1:6) (SC1) at

60o C for 10 minutes.

Removes ionic and heavy metal contaminants.

Rinse wafer with deionizer water.

Rinses off any residue.

Dry with Nitrogen Gas.

Removes moisture off the wafer.

Supplementary Table 3: Resist coating procedure.

Step

Process & Description

Place wafer on the spinner and a drop of PMMA/Anisole on the wafer.

Pre-ramp up: 0 - 500 rpm in 5 seconds.

Ramp up: 500 - 6000 rpm in 10 seconds.

Spin: 6000 rpm for 45 seconds.

Ramp down: 6000 - 0 rpm in 15 seconds.

Soft bake: 170o C for 30 minutes to remove solvent.

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Supplementary Table 4: The electron beam lithography procedure.

Step

Process & Description

Mark a specific location on the sample and insert it into the SEM chamber

Operating voltage 30 kV , working distance <5mm, optimize condenser lens, objective and anode aperture values.

Focus and stigmate the beam, align the apertures and increase the magnification
until magnification is x800000 and measure beam current.

Insert electron-beam current, dose, line spacing and centre to centre distance values to the NPGS system.

Run the CAD pattern of the nanomagnetic devices in the unexposed resist area.

Shutdown the system and remove sample from the SEM chamber.

Supplementary Table 5: Resist development procedure.

Step

Process

Description

Development

Methyl isobutyl ketone : Isopropanol - 1:3 for 60 seconds.

Rinse

20 seconds in an Isopropanol bath.

Dry

Aerate with Nitrogen gas.

Supplementary Table 6: Liftoff procedure.

Step

Process

Description

Liftoff

Agitate the sample for 10 minutes in a warm ultrasonic bath of

Acetone.

Rinse

5 seconds in a Isopropanol.

Dry

Aerate with Nitrogen gas.

References
1. Cowburn, R., Koltsov, D., Adeyeye, A., Welland, M. & Tricker, D. Single-domain circular nanomagnets.
Physical Review Letters 83, 1042 (1999).
2. Scholz, W. et al. Transition from single-domain to vortex state in soft magnetic cylindrical nanodots.
Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 266 (2003).
3. Jubert, P.-O. & Allenspach, R. Analytical approach to the single-domain-to-vortex transition in small
magnetic disks. Physical Review B 70, 144402 (2004).
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4. Hoffmann, H. & Steinbauer, F. Single domain and vortex state in ferromagnetic circular nanodots.
Journal of Applied Physics 92, 54635467 (2002).
5. Guslienko, K. Magnetic anisotropy in two-dimensional dot arrays induced by magnetostatic interdot
coupling. Physics Letters A 278, 293 298 (2001).
6. Kumari, A., Sarkar, S., Pulecio, J. F., Karunaratne, D. & Bhanja, S. Study of magnetization state
transition in closely spaced nanomagnet two-dimensional array for computation. Journal of Applied
Physics 109, 07E51307E5133 (2011).
7. Scheinfein, M. R. Llg micromagnetic simulator (1997).
8. White, R. M. The magnetic hamiltonian. Quantum Theory of Magnetism: Magnetic Properties of
Materials 3383 (2007).

9. Meja-Lopez,
J. et al. Vortex state and effect of anisotropy in sub-100-nm magnetic nanodots. Journal
of applied physics 100, 104319104319 (2006).
10. Cox, T. F. & Cox, M. A. Multidimensional scaling (CRC Press, 2010).

Additional Information Research updates will be accessible at http://www.eng.usf.edu/bhanja/Research.

html and http://marathon.csee.usf.edu/EMT/Project_Page.html.
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to S.B.

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