Key Laboratory of Microelectronic Devices and Circuits (MOE), Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication, Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Small. 2021 Jul;17(30):e2101434. doi: 10.1002/smll.202101434. Epub 2021 Jun 29.
Neuromorphic computing has emerged as the high-energy-efficiency and intelligent solution for processing sensory data. As a potential alternative to neuromorphic computing, photo-excited synaptic systems can integrate the functions of optoelectronic sensing and synaptic computing to realize the low-power and high-performance visual perception. However, one major challenge in high-efficient photo-excited synaptic system is to realize the complementarily enhanced and inhibited synaptic behaviors with small hardware cost as possible. Another challenge is to fabricate the photo-synapse devices with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible process to achieve high enough integration density for practical application. Here, a CMOS-compatible Light-stimulated Porphyrin-coated Silicon Nanowire Field Effect Transistor (LPSNFET) technology is proposed and developed to form the complementary photo-synapses with only two CMOS-like transistors. LPSNFET exhibits fivefold improvement in photo-sensitivity compared to the bare silicon nanowire (SiNW) devices, and can still show obvious responses when incident illumination power is as low as 0.1 mW cm . Moreover, it enables tunable dynamic synaptic plasticity and versatile synaptic functions. Especially, the complementarily enhanced and inhibited behaviors can be realized by modulating SiNW/porphyrin interface via simply changing the MOS type of LPSNFET, which acts like the photonic counterpart of CMOS technology to provide the basic brick for building complex neuromorphic circuits efficiently and economically. Finally, the CMOS process compatibility of LPSNFET provides potential application in future large scale in-sensor computing.
神经形态计算已成为处理感测数据的高能效和智能解决方案。作为神经形态计算的潜在替代品，光激发突触系统可以整合光电传感和突触计算的功能，实现低功耗和高性能的视觉感知。然而，高效光激发突触系统的一个主要挑战是用尽可能小的硬件成本实现互补增强和抑制的突触行为。另一个挑战是用互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）兼容工艺制造光突触器件，以实现足够高的集成密度，满足实际应用的需要。在这里，提出并开发了一种 CMOS 兼容的光刺激卟啉涂层硅纳米线场效应晶体管（LPSNFET）技术，用仅两个 CMOS 类似晶体管形成互补光突触。与裸硅纳米线（SiNW）器件相比，LPSNFET 的光灵敏度提高了五倍，当入射光功率低至 0.1 mW cm 时，仍能显示出明显的响应。此外，它还能实现可调动态突触可塑性和多种突触功能。特别是，通过简单地改变 LPSNFET 的 MOS 类型，可以调节 SiNW/卟啉界面，从而实现互补增强和抑制行为，其作用类似于 CMOS 技术的光子对应物，为高效经济地构建复杂的神经形态电路提供了基本的构建模块。最后，LPSNFET 的 CMOS 工艺兼容性为未来大规模的传感器内计算提供了潜在的应用。
