Oxide-Based Synaptic Transistors for Neuromorphic Systems

Inspired by the energy-efficient and cognitive computational ability of a biological brain, neuromorphic computing is an attractive computation paradigm that complements the von Neumann architecture. Hardware implementations of synapses, dendrites and spiking neural networks represent a promising computational paradigm for solving complex pattern recognition and sensory processing tasks. Here, artificial electronic synapses and dendrites are proposed based on the oxide-based electrical-double-layer transistors. Strong electrostatic coupling effect and electrochemical doping were observed due to proton migration in the P-doped SiO₂ electrolyte films. Protons in the P-doped SiO₂ electrolyte and oxide channel conductance were regarded as the neurotransmitter and synaptic weight, respectively. Spike-timing dependent plasticity, short-term plasticity, including paired-pulse facilitation, dynamic filtering was mimicked. Most importantly, dendritic arithmetic and spiking pH sensors with extremely low energy dissipation of 0.5pJ are also demonstrated in a simple artificial synapse with multiple pre-synaptic inputs. Our oxide-based protonic/electronic hybrid artificial synaptic transistors are potential building blocks for brain-inspired computers and neuromorphic systems.

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