Logic gates based on neuristors made from two-dimensional materials

• Published in: Nature electronics Vol. 4; no. 6; pp. 399 - 404
• Main Authors: Chen, Huawei, Xue, Xiaoyong, Liu, Chunsen, Fang, Jinbei, Wang, Zhen, Wang, Jianlu, Zhang, David Wei, Hu, Weida, Zhou, Peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Boolean; Efficiency; Gates; Logic circuits; Molybdenum disulfide; Neural networks; Neuristors; Phase transitions; Selenides; Transistors; Tungsten compounds; Two dimensional materials
• ISSN: 2520-1131
• DOI: 10.1038/s41928-021-00591-z

A single biological neuron can efficiently perform Boolean operations. Artificial neuromorphic systems, on the other hand, typically require several devices to complete a single operation. Here, we show that neuristors that exploit the intrinsic polarity of two-dimensional materials can perform logic operations in a single device. XNOR gates can be made using ambipolar tungsten diselenide (WSe2), NOR gates using p-type black phosphorus, and OR and AND gates using n-type molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) of different thicknesses. To illustrate the potential of the neuristors, we fabricate logic half-adder and parity-checker circuits using a WSe2 neuristor and a MoS2 neuristor in a two-transistor two-resistor configuration, offering an area saving of 78% compared to circuits based on MoS2 gates in a traditional design. We also propose a binary neural network that is based on a three-dimensional XNOR array, which simulations show should offer an energy efficiency of 622.35 tera-operations per second per watt and a power consumption of 7.31 mW.By using two-dimensional materials with different polarities, single neuristors can act as XNOR, NOR, OR and AND logic gates.