  Emerging spin-torque (ST) phenomena may lead to ultra-low-voltage, high-speed
nano-magnetic switches. Such current-based-switches can be attractive for
designing low swing global-interconnects, like, clocking-networks and
databuses. In this work we present the basic idea of using such ST-switches for
low-power on-chip clocking. For clockingnetworks, Spin-Hall-Effect (SHE) can be
used to produce an assist-field for fast ST-switching using global-mesh-clock
with less than 100mV swing. The ST-switch acts as a compact-latch, written by
ultra-low-voltage input-pulses. The data is read using a high-resistance
tunnel-junction. The clock-driven SHE write-assist can be shared among large
number of ST-latches, thereby reducing the load-capacitance for
clock-distribution. The SHE assist can be activated by a low-swing clock
(~150mV) and hence can facilitate ultra-low voltage clock-distribution. Owing
to reduced clock-load and low-voltage operation, the proposed scheme can
achieve 97% low-power for on-chip clocking as compared to the state of the art
CMOS design. Rigorous device-circuit simulations and system-level modelling for
the proposed scheme will be addressed in future.
