Enhanced Artificial Synaptic Properties Enabled by Arrays of Electrolyte-Gated Electrospun InZnO Nanowires

Abstract

Multiterminal artificial synapses constitute a vibrant research field in the hardware of artificial intelligence. Arrays consisting of one-dimensional nanowire can render artificial synapses with enhanced electrical properties, exhibiting potential for highly compact circuit integration. Herein, we fabricated three-terminal electrolyte-gated synaptic transistors based on indium zinc oxide (InZnO) nanowire arrays (NWAs) via a low-cost electrospinning technique combined with a facile nanowire transfer process. The nanowire diameter can be as narrow as 40 nm, presenting an opportunity for low-cost compact circuit integration. Moreover, based on the synaptic transistors composed of InZnO NWAs and a LiClO4 electrolyte, we obtained figures of merit of artificial synapses, such as the excitatory postsynaptic current, paired-pulse facilitation, high-pass filtering capability, and long-term potentiation. Furthermore, we systematically compared the electrical performance of NWAs with the randomly aligned InZnO nanowire networks (NWNs), and the electrical characteristics of NWA synaptic transistors are superior compared with those of the NWN counterpart. In addition, an artificial neural network for handwritten digit recognition based on the experimentally measured potentiation/depression characteristics has been simulated with a recognition accuracy of 93.1%. Our study demonstrates the opportunity to realize low-power artificial synapses with aligned nanowire arrays obtained from cost-effective fabrication techniques.

Ultraviolet-driven metal oxide semiconductor synapses with improved long-term potentiation

“…In comparison, regarding the InZnO synaptic transistors merely controlled by electrical biasing in our previous work, the relative LTP was restricted to only several minutes. 29 This large discrepancy clearly demonstrates the significant benefits of optically-driven MOS synaptic transistors in achieving plausible LTP features in this work. Furthermore, to simulate the biological memory and forgetting functions, an exemplified Ebbinghaus memory-forgetting curve of InZnO synaptic transistors is illustrated in Fig.…”

“…Particularly regarding the version of large digits, the recognition accuracies of the UV-driven InZnO synaptic transistors obviously outperform those obtained from InZnO synapses merely driven by electrical biasing. 29 This could be attributed to the linearity of the conductance update and more superior degree of symmetry obtained from the UV-driven devices.…”

“…28 Our recent work applied a combination of low-cost electrospinning and a compatible transfer technique to fabricate synaptic transistors based on InZnO nanowires, which however, exhibited limited memory retention of LTPs merely driven by electrical biasing. 29…”

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

“…[10] However, most of the reported EGSTs only exhibited excitatory synaptic plasticity, lacking inhibitory synaptic plasticity. [11,12] Therefore, in order to further explore the inhibitory synaptic plasticity, multiple research efforts have been carried out. For instance, Duan et al achieved excitatory and inhibitory responses in a polysilicon thin film synaptic transistor.…”

Low-temperature fabrication of Pr-doped In2O3 electrospun nanofibers for flexible field-effect transistors

“…11 Among these NFs, indium-based oxides such as In-Zn-O, In-Sn-O and In-Ga-Zn-O have been widely used in highperformance FETs. [12][13][14] However, as a typical solution process, MO-NFs usually need to undergo a high-temperature (Z500 1C) annealing process after electrospinning, enabling the synthesis of MO-NFs from metallic salt precursors. Such a high annealing temperature exceeds the maximum temperatures that most plastic substrates (such as polyimide (PI), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC)) can withstand; thus, most of the previous MO-NFs were developed on silicon or glass substrates.…”