Artificial Synapses Emulated by an Electrolyte-Gated Tungsten-Oxide Transistor

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Neuroscience
• Computer Engineering

Background:

• The human brain's ≈10¹⁵ synapses necessitate effective artificial synapses for brain-inspired computing.
• Voltage-gated ion channels are crucial for regulating action-potential firing in biological synapses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate an artificial synapse emulating biological synaptic functions using an electrolyte-gated transistor with a unique WO3 tunnel structure.
• To investigate a novel method for controlling the transition between short-term and long-term memory in artificial synapses.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of an electrolyte-gated transistor utilizing WO3 with a unique tunnel structure.
• Emulation of ionic modulation processes found in biological synapses.
• Application of low electrical bias for short-term plasticity and high electrical bias for long-term plasticity via proton insertion.

Main Results:

• The developed transistor successfully emulates both short-term and long-term plasticity.
• Demonstrated control over the transition from short-term to long-term memory using varying gate voltage amplitudes.
• Implementation of other key synaptic behaviors including paired pulse facilitation, synaptic weight modulation, and spike-timing-dependent plasticity.

Conclusions:

• The proposed WO3 electrolyte-gated transistor offers a new working approach for artificial synapses.
• This research provides a novel method for designing synaptic transistors by leveraging electrostatic and electrochemical effects.
• The findings contribute to the advancement of brain-inspired computing systems.