Bio-inspired signal processor consisting of coupled quantum-dot devices

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In this work, we proposed a bio-inspired signal processing device that imitated the dynamics of reaction-diffusion systems combined with neural networks. A reaction-diffusion system (RD system) is a chemical complex system in which chemical reactions and material diffusion coexist in a nonequilibrium state. It is producing various dynamic phenomena in the natural world. Constructing an electrical analog of reaction-diffusion systems combined with neural networks will enable us to generate artificial biodynamics on a LSI chip and develop bio-inspired information-processing systems.We proposed constructing an electrical analog of RD systems, i.e., an electrical RD system consisting of quantum-dot circuits. An RD system can be considered an aggregate of chemical nonlinear oscillators interacting with one another, so we can construct electrical RD systems by using electrical oscillators instead of chemical ones. We used, as the electrical oscillator, a quantum-dot circuit that produced nonlinear oscillation caused by the Coulomb blockade phenomenon. The action of diffusion in RD systems can be imitated by capacitive coupling between the oscillators. By arranging coupled oscillators into a network, we designed a quantum-dot RD system. We also proposed constructing an electrical neural network consisting of quantum-dot circuits. The electrical neural network is composed of threshold devices and weighted coupling synapses consisting of monostable single-electron oscillators and coupling capacitors. We showed through computer simulation that the RD system combined with neural networks produced electrical dissipative structures, or animated spatiotemporal patterns of node potential in the circuit, which was a characteristic similar to that in chemical RD systems.