All-Oxide-Based Highly Transparent Photonic Synapse for Neuromorphic Computing

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018 Oct 10;10(40):34370-34376. doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b10870. Epub 2018 Sep 25.

Abstract

The neuromorphic system processes enormous information even with very low energy consumption, which practically can be achieved with photonic artificial synapse. Herein, a photonic artificial synapse is demonstrated based on an all-oxide highly transparent device. The device consists of conformally grown In2O3/ZnO thin films on a fluorine-doped tin oxide/glass substrate. The device showed a loop opening in current-voltage characteristics, which was attributed to charge trapping/detrapping. Ultraviolet illumination-induced versatile features such as short-term/long-term plasticity and paired-pulse facilitation were truly confirmed. Further, photonic potentiation and electrical habituation were implemented. This study paves the way to develop a device in which current can be modulated under the action of optical stimuli, serving as a fundamental step toward the realization of low-cost synaptic behavior.

Keywords: all-oxide; charge trapping/detrapping; photonic synapse; photoresponse; transparent.