Vertical organic synapse expandable to 3D crossbar array

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 4595
• Main Authors: Choi, Yongsuk, Oh, Seyong, Qian, Chuan, Park, Jin-Hong, Cho, Jeong Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 14.09.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/166; 639/301; 639/925; Arrays; Artificial neural networks; Density; Energy consumption; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Neural networks; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Stability; Synapses; Vertical penetration; Weight
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17850-w

Recently, three-terminal synaptic devices have attracted considerable attention owing to their nondestructive weight-update behavior, which is attributed to the completely separated terminals for reading and writing. However, the structural limitations of these devices, such as a low array density and complex line design, are predicted to result in low processing speeds and high energy consumption of the entire system. Here, we propose a vertical three-terminal synapse featuring a remote weight update via ion gel, which is also extendable to a crossbar array structure. This synaptic device exhibits excellent synaptic characteristics, which are achieved via precise control of ion penetration onto the vertical channel through the weight-control terminal. Especially, the applicability of the developed vertical organic synapse array to neuromorphic computing is demonstrated using a simple crossbar synapse array. The proposed synaptic device technology is expected to be an important steppingstone to the development of high-performance and high-density neural networks. Though three-terminal organic synapses are attractive for artificial neural networks due their weight controllable property, their structural limitations hinder performance. Here, the authors report a crossbar synapse array featuring vertical organic synapses with remote weight update capability.