Solution-based Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Flexible Neuromorphic Electronics

用于柔性神经形态电子器件的基于溶液的过渡金属二硫属化物

• 批准号: EP/Y001567/1
• 负责人: Ruomeng Huang
• 金额: $ 20.37万
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY001567%2F1
• 关键词: Solution; based; Transition; Metal; Dichalcogenides

The human brain is an amazing computing machine that can process and store vast amount of information using no more energy than a 20-watt lightbulb. Modern computing systems, despite out-performing the human brain in examples like Alpha go, consume far too much energy in shuffling data between separated storage and computing units. Inspired by the human brain, where over 10^12 neurons and 10^15 synapses can process and store data concurrently with extremely low energy consumption, electronic devices that emulate biological elements, such as synapses and neurons, demonstrate great promise for neuromorphic computing. Such a neuromorphic paradigm is even more meaningful in the development of many new-concept flexible electronic systems such as wearable electronics, bionic sensors and brain-inspired chips where the energy budget is significantly constrained. Like graphene, transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) are a family of 2D materials whose three-atom thick unit cell is formed by a layer of transition metal atoms (Mo, W, etc.) sandwiched between two layers of chalcogen atoms (S, Se, Te). TMDCs exhibit extraordinary electronic and optical properties, making them appealing for applications spanning from nanoelectronics and nanophotonics to nanosensing. In addition, these atomic sheets can withstand mechanical strains of 10%, which makes these materials particularly suitable for flexible electronic devices, a market expected to be worth more than £10B in the next five years. Inspired by the human brain, this project will develop TMDC-based memristor devices that combine state-of-the-art performance together with scalable, industrially acceptable processing on flexible substrates. These memristors, fabricated from state-of-art fabrication technologies in nanoscales, can server as artificial synapses and neurons to faithfully mimic the biological neuronal system and perform a variety of computing tasks such as pattern and voice recognition, data analysis, process optimisation at extremely low power. The capability of integrating them onto flexible substrates further opens their application in the fast-growing world where real-time data of human and items are increasingly demanded. One key challenge here is to demonstrate the feasibility in large-scale deposition of low-dimensional TMDCs at a low temperature that is compatible with flexible substrates. Our recent work has demonstrated a breakthrough in this area through the development of a novel group of chalcogenide chemical precursors that decompose at low temperature. We will use the same chemical group to develop precursors that are capable of depositing TMDCs via low-temperature solution-processed approaches. We will also apply the high quality, large-scale and ultra-low dimensional TMDCs films into developing two-terminal memristors that can faithfully emulate the synaptic behaviour of human synapse and neurons. We will further improve memristor performance and enrich its functionality through defect engineering and composition modulation. The resulting device would have a significant impact on flexible neuromorphic electronics, and open up new and interesting applications for their deployment in skin-attachable and implantable neuromorphic electronics for wearable computing, health monitoring, and sensorimotor neural signal transmission.

人类大脑是一个惊人的计算机器，可以处理和存储大量的信息，使用的能量不超过一个20瓦的灯泡。现代计算系统，尽管在像阿尔法围棋这样的例子中表现得比人脑好，但在分离的存储和计算单元之间洗牌数据时消耗了太多的能量。受人类大脑的启发，超过10^12个神经元和10^15个突触可以以极低的能耗同时处理和存储数据，模拟生物元素（如突触和神经元）的电子设备展示了神经形态计算的巨大前景。这种神经形态学范式在许多新概念柔性电子系统的开发中更有意义，例如可穿戴电子设备，仿生传感器和脑启发芯片，其中能量预算受到显着限制。像石墨烯一样，过渡金属二硫属化物（TMDC）是一类2D材料，其三原子厚的晶胞由过渡金属原子（Mo、W等）层形成。夹在两层硫族原子（S、Se、Te）之间。TMDC具有非凡的电子和光学特性，使其对从纳米电子学和纳米光子学到纳米传感的应用具有吸引力。此外，这些原子片可以承受10%的机械应变，这使得这些材料特别适合柔性电子设备，预计未来五年该市场价值将超过100亿英镑。受人脑的启发，该项目将开发基于TMDC的忆阻器设备，该设备将联合收割机最先进的性能与可扩展的、工业上可接受的柔性基板处理相结合。这些忆阻器由纳米级最先进的制造技术制成，可以作为人工突触和神经元，忠实地模仿生物神经元系统，并以极低的功率执行各种计算任务，如模式和语音识别，数据分析，过程优化。将它们集成到柔性基板上的能力进一步打开了它们在快速增长的世界中的应用，在这个世界中，对人和物品的实时数据的需求越来越大。这里的一个关键挑战是证明在与柔性衬底兼容的低温下大规模沉积低维TMDC的可行性。我们最近的工作表明，通过开发一组在低温下分解的新型硫属化合物化学前体，在这一领域取得了突破。我们将使用相同的化学基团来开发能够通过低温溶液处理方法沉积TMDC的前体。我们还将把高质量、大规模和超低维的TMDC薄膜应用于开发能够忠实地模拟人类突触和神经元的突触行为的双端忆阻器。我们将通过缺陷工程和成分调制进一步提高忆阻器的性能并丰富其功能。由此产生的设备将对柔性神经形态电子器件产生重大影响，并为它们在可穿戴计算、健康监测和感觉运动神经信号传输的皮肤可附接和植入式神经形态电子器件中的部署开辟了新的和有趣的应用。