Multi-Terminal Oxide-based Electric-Double-Layer Thin-Film Transistors for Neuromorphic Systems

Our brain is a highly parallel, energy efficient, and event-driven information processing system, which is fundamentally different from traditional von Neumann computers. Inspired by biological neural computing, neuromorphic systems may open up new paradigms to deal with complicated problems such as pattern recognition and decision making. Hardware implementation of neurons and synapses by individual ionic/electronic hybrid device is of great significance for enhancing our understanding of the brain and solving sensory processing and complex recognition tasks. Although two-terminal memristors can perform some basic synaptic and neural functions, our human brain contains many more synapses than neurons. This fact suggests that multi-terminal devices are more favorable for complex neural network emulation. In recent years, multi-terminal electric-double-layer (EDL) thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on interfacial ion-modulation have attracted significant attention in mimicking synaptic dynamic plasticity and neural functions. Here, we provide the proof-of-principle artificial synapses/neurons based on oxide-based EDL TFTs gated by solid electrolytes with multiple driving and modulatory input terminals. Our results provide a new-concept approach for building brain-like cognitive systems.