Ultralow‐Power and Multisensory Artificial Synapse Based on Electrolyte‐Gated Vertical Organic Transistors

Abstract

Bioinspired electronics have shown great potential in the field of artificial intelligence and brain-like science. Low energy consumption and multifunction are key factors for its application. Here, multisensory artificial synapse and neural networks based on electrolyte-gated vertical organic field-effect transistors (VOFETs) are first developed. The channel length of the organic transistor is scaled down to 30 nm through cross-linking strategy. Owing to the short channel length and extremely large capacitance of the electric double layer formed at the electrolyte-channel interface, the minimum power consumption of one synaptic event is 0.06 fJ, which is significantly lower than that required by biological synapses (1-10 fJ). Moreover, the artificial synapse can be trained to learn and memory images in a 5 × 5 synapse array and emulate the human brain's spatiotemporal information processing and sound azimuth detection. Finally, the artificial tongue is designed using the synaptic transistor that can discriminate acidity. Overall, this study provides new insights into realizing energy-efficient artificial synapses and mimicking biological sensory systems.

Low‐Cost Fabricated MgSnO Electrolyte‐Gated Synaptic Transistor with Dual Modulation of Excitation and Inhibition

“…In biological neural systems, in order to encode temporal information, PPF and PPD behaviors are considered typical features of STP. [16] Two successive positive pulses (V GS = 2 V, Δt = 10 ms) can trigger a typical PPF behavior in Figure 3a.…”

Ultralow Power Wearable Organic Ferroelectric Device for Optoelectronic Neuromorphic Computing

“…Figure b shows an overview of the power consumption statistics of OSTs reported in the past three years. − It is worth noting that our device consumes at least an order of magnitude less power than previously reported devices. It is precisely because of the fast switching of the ferroelectric polarization of the P­(VDF-TrFE) and the high photosensitivity of C8-BTBT that the Fe-OST exhibits lower than exajoule power consumption.…”

Side-Chain Engineering of Polystyrene Dielectrics Toward High-Performance Photon Memories and Artificial Synapses

“…The long-term operation of floating gate memory devices requires the quasi-permanent charge trapping capability. − Thus advanced dielectric polymers applied in memory devices should be electrical insulating with a large number of bulk traps for charge storage. − This requirement is highly consistent with that of the artificial synapse, which electrically emulates the human brain for next-generation neuromorphic computing. − During operation, the OFET gate serves as a presynaptic terminal to trigger an electric information pulse, while charge trapping/detrapping in dielectric polymers determines the training/learning processes and, consequently, results in varied conductance of semiconductors as the postsynapse response. , Compared with the conventional two-terminal artificial synapse device, OFET synapses enable programing (through the gate) and reading (through the semiconducting channel) processes to decouple, in which the information transmission and training/learning are simultaneously achieved . Thus, in order to improve the performance of nonvolatile memories and artificial synapses, the requirements for dielectric polymers are fundamentally similar, namely, excellent charge trapping capability for enhancing electret intensity and rapid trapping–detrapping modulation characteristic for fast writing–erasing processes …”

“…22−24 This requirement is highly consistent with that of the artificial synapse, which electrically emulates the human brain for next-generation neuromorphic computing. 24−28 During operation, the OFET gate serves as a presynaptic terminal to trigger an electric information pulse, 29 while charge trapping/detrapping in dielectric polymers determines the training/learning processes and, consequently, results in varied conductance of semiconductors as the postsynapse response. 26,30 Compared with the conventional two-terminal artificial synapse device, OFET synapses enable programing (through the gate) and reading (through the semiconducting channel) processes to decouple, in which the information transmission and training/learning are simultaneously achieved.…”