Issue 4, 2020

Designing carbon conductive filament memristor devices for memory and electronic synapse applications

Abstract

Electronic synaptic memristor systems have the potential to bring revolutionary change to traditional computer structures and to lay a solid foundation for the development of computer architectures simulating artificial brains. Among them, silver (Ag) or copper (Cu) filament-based memristor devices have increasingly attracted attention due to their excellent functional properties in plasticity and as memristors. However, the randomly dynamic process of nucleation during device fabrication results in nonuniform switching parameters. Here, we demonstrate the viability of a high-performance neuromorphic memristor device based on a carbon conductive filament mechanism, with the advantages of high switching stability and low power consumption. The memristor is also able to emulate faithfully different functions of artificial synapses, including paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). According to detailed electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization, it is confirmed that carbon conductive filaments are formed in aluminum nitride (AlN) films comprising the middle layer of the memristor. First principles calculations provide insight into the energetics of defects involved in the diffusion of carbon atoms into the AlN film. This work probes the viability of a new physical conduction mechanism for use in neuromorphic memristor performance, with evidence of improved device performance.

Graphical abstract: Designing carbon conductive filament memristor devices for memory and electronic synapse applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
22 Okt. 2019
Accepted
28 Nov. 2019
First published
29 Nov. 2019

Mater. Horiz., 2020,7, 1106-1114

Designing carbon conductive filament memristor devices for memory and electronic synapse applications

Z. Zhou, J. Zhao, A. P. Chen, Y. Pei, Z. Xiao, G. Wang, J. Chen, G. Fu and X. Yan, Mater. Horiz., 2020, 7, 1106 DOI: 10.1039/C9MH01684H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements