A biomimetic 2D transistor for audiomorphic computing

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 3450 - 10
• Main Authors: Das, Sarbashis, Dodda, Akhil, Das, Saptarshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.08.2019; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Animals; Auditory Cortex; Auditory pathways; Auditory Pathways - physiology; Auditory plasticity; Behavior, Animal; Behavioral plasticity; Biomimetics; Biomimetics - instrumentation; Biomimetics - methods; Channel gating; Coincidence circuits; Computational neuroscience; Computer simulation; Cortex (auditory); Cues; Darkness; Finite element method; Hunting; Localization; Mathematical Computing; Models, Animal; Molybdenum disulfide; Neurobiology; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; Neurons - physiology; Owls; RC circuits; Semiconductors; Sound localization; Sound Localization - physiology; Strigiformes; Time lag; Timing; Transistors, Electronic
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11381-9

In this article, we introduce a biomimetic audiomorphic device that captures the neurobiological architecture and computational map inside the auditory cortex of barn owl known for its exceptional hunting ability in complete darkness using auditory cues. The device consists of multiple split-gates with nanogaps on a semiconducting MoS channel connected to the source/drain contacts for imitating the spatial map of coincidence detector neurons and tunable RC circuits for imitating the interaural time delay neurons following the Jeffress model of sound localization. Furthermore, we use global back-gating capability to demonstrate neuroplasticity to capture behavioral and/or adaptation related changes in the barn owl. Finally, the virtual source model for current transport is combined with finite element COMSOL multiphysics simulations to explain and project the performance of the biomimetic audiomorphic device. We find that the precision of the biomimetic device can supersede the barn owl by orders of magnitude.