Interdisciplinary Materials Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, P. R. China.
Shanghai Institute of Intelligent Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201210, P. R. China.
Small. 2020 Apr;16(13):e1907472. doi: 10.1002/smll.201907472. Epub 2020 Feb 18.
Synaptic electronics is a new technology for developing functional electronic devices that can mimic the structure and functions of biological counterparts. It has broad application prospects in wearable computing chips, human-machine interfaces, and neuron prostheses. These types of applications require synaptic devices with ultralow energy consumption as the effective energy supply for wearable electronics, which is still very difficult. Here, artificial synapse emulation is demonstrated by solid-ion gated organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with a 3D-interface conducting channel for ultralow-power synaptic simulation. The basic features of the artificial synapse, excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC), paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), and high-pass filtering, are successfully realized. Furthermore, the single-fiber based artificial synapse can be operated by an ultralow presynaptic spike down to -0.5 mV with an ultralow reading voltage at -0.1 mV due to the large contact surface between the ionic electrolyte and fiber-like semiconducting channel. Therefore, the ultralow energy consumption at one spike of the artificial synapse can be realized as low as ≈3.9 fJ, which provides great potential in a low-power integrated synaptic circuit.
突触电子学是一种开发功能电子设备的新技术,它可以模拟生物对应物的结构和功能。它在可穿戴计算芯片、人机接口和神经元假体等方面具有广阔的应用前景。这些类型的应用需要具有超低能耗的突触器件作为可穿戴电子设备的有效能量供应,这仍然非常困难。在这里,通过具有 3D 界面导电沟道的固态离子门控有机场效应晶体管 (OFET) 来演示人工突触模拟,用于超低功率突触模拟。成功实现了人工突触的基本特性,包括兴奋性突触后电流 (EPSC)、成对脉冲促进 (PPF) 和高通滤波。此外,由于离子电解质和纤维状半导体沟道之间的大接触面积,基于单纤维的人工突触可以在低至 -0.5 mV 的前置尖峰下工作,读取电压低至 -0.1 mV。因此,人工突触的一个尖峰的超低能耗可低至约 3.9 fJ,这为低功耗集成突触电路提供了巨大的潜力。