Research & Development of SOT-MRAM for High-Performance Embedded Memories

by Prof. Kaiming Cai (蔡凯明) (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

Wednesday 7 Jan 2026, 10:30 → 11:30 Asia/Shanghai

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/N4F-N400 - meeting room (Tsung-Dao Lee Institute)

Host: Prof. Liang Liu  

Venue: TDLI Meeting Room N400

Tencent Meeting link:    https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/fteI9QgD6tn5

  Meeting ID: 699561462, no password

 

Abstract:

Memory serves as a critical component in today’s electronic systems for data storage and processing. The magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) technologies, such as spin-transfer torque (STT), spin-orbit torque (SOT), and voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA)-MRAMs, exhibit the advantages of fast speed, non-volatile, good endurance, scalability, and CMOS compatibility for embedded memory applications. The SOT-MRAM has been highlighted as a potential candidate for next generation MRAM due to its improved speed and endurance, compared to STT-MRAM. However, the three-terminal configuration and high write current in SOT-MRAM adversely impacts its reliability and bit-cell area. In this talk, I will briefly present some challenges and latest progress on the R&D of SOT-MRAM technologies. I will present field-free solutions for SOT-MRAMs and the concept of a BEOL-compatible hybrid free layer with high SOT efficiency and thermal budget for advanced technology nodes. Moreover, we demonstrated the selective operations of multiple MTJs and the downscaling of SOT device for low power consumption and enhancement of endurance, offering significant performance improvement towards static random-access memory (SRAM) cache replacement.

 

Biography:

Kaiming Cai is a Professor at the School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He received his bachelor from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Wuhan, China) in 2011 and the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China) in 2017, respectively. From 2017 to 2020, he worked at the Spin & Energy Lab at National University of Singapore as a research fellow. Since 2021, he joined the Department of Compute and Memory Device at IMEC as a research scientist, focusing on the R & D of magnetic memory technologies. Since 2011, he has been studying magnetism and spintronics, specifically the spin-orbit torque (SOT) effect and its applications in MRAM. His main research interests are ultrafast and field-free SOT switching.