  The quest for highly efficient cognitive computing has led to extensive
research interest for the field of neuromorphic computing. Neuromorphic
computing aims to mimic the behavior of biological neurons and synapses using
solid-state devices and circuits. Among various approaches, emerging
non-volatile memory technologies are of special interest for mimicking
neuro-synaptic behavior. These devices allow the mapping of the rich dynamics
of biological neurons and synapses onto their intrinsic device physics. In this
letter, we focus on Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) behavior of
biological synapses and propose a method to implement the STDP behavior in
Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) devices. Specifically, we exploit the
time-dependent heat dynamics and the response of an MTJ to the instantaneous
temperature to imitate the STDP behavior. Our simulations, based on a
macro-spin model for magnetization dynamics, show that, STDP can be imitated in
stochastic magnetic tunnel junctions by applying simple voltage waveforms as
the spiking response of pre- and post-neurons across an MTJ device.
