Smart Devices Based on Soft Materials

传统的有源电子器件是基于晶体半导体材料，主要是硅。尽管硅的主导地位仍在继续，其限制也在不断*扩大，但地平线上的其他技术在补充功能和不适合硅的应用方面有很大的前景。导电聚合物、有机/无机复合材料和生物材料等活性“软材料”具有有趣的特性，可用于*提供独特的功能。这些材料还可以具有与柔性衬底和简单的印刷技术兼容的优点，用于制造设备。使用软性材料的组合，如导电聚合物、凝胶电解质和合适的接触材料，可以制造电子/离子/光子器件。这些设备不仅可以根据电信号进行操作，还可以利用离子的移动和可用性进行操作。本质上是电致变色的，这意味着它们的电子操作状态从它们的颜色中是显而易见的，允许*光学询问被用作读出机制。*到目前为止，我们已经使用电子/离子/光子器件来实现晶体管、S型转换功能以及短期和长期存储元件，并研究了几种用于实现光学控制的光活性器件技术。拟议的计划是为了进一步将这些有源元件的阵列与兼容的并行输入技术相结合，例如可打印的光活性阵列，从而允许形成模拟功能的二维和三维系统*类似于通常使用生物系统(神经形态)中的神经元完成的功能。从长远来看，这将使制造复杂的细胞结构实现视网膜样*图像处理功能成为可能。增加更多的层和其他功能，如光学门控和/或*多选择离子传输，将允许更复杂的智能处理系统。*在神经形态硬件中实现一些“智能”功能是一个重要的研究领域，由于记忆阻器类型技术的兴起，该领域最近变得非常流行，这是这一努力的一部分。这项工作已经并将继续扩大这一领域的知识，并推动加拿大将这些技术商业化，为基于软件的人工智能增加补充努力，加拿大在这方面已经走在了前列。

Conventional active electronic devices are based on crystalline semiconducting materials,*predominately silicon. Although the dominance of silicon continues with its limits being continually*expanded, other technologies on the horizon have significant promise for complementary functions*and applications unsuitable to silicon. Active “soft materials” such as conducting polymers,*organic/inorganic composites and biological materials have interesting properties that can be used to*provide unique functionality. These materials can also have the advantage of being compatible with*flexible substrates and simple printing techniques for the fabrication of devices. Using a combination*of soft materials, such as a conducting polymer, a gel electrolyte, and a suitable contact material,*electronic/ionic/photonic devices can be fabricated. These devices can be made to operate not only*in response to electrical signals but also using the movement and availability of ions. Being inherently*electrochromic, meaning that their state of electronic operation is evident from their colour, allows*optical interrogation to be used as a readout mechanism. ***To date we have used electronic/ionic/photonic devices to implement transistors,*sigmoid transfer functions, and both short and*long term memory elements as well as investigating several photoactive device technologies for implementing optical control. The proposed program is to further this work to allow combining arrays of these active elements with a compatible parallel input technology, such as printable photoactive arrays, permitting the formation of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional systems that emulate functions*similar to those normally accomplished using neurons in biological systems (neuromorphic). In the long term this will make possible the fabrication of complex cellular structures for the implementation of retina-like*image processing functions. Adding more layers and other functionalities, like optical gating and/or*multiple selective ion transport, will allow for even more complex intelligent processing systems.***The implementation of some "intelligent" functions in neuromorphic hardware is an important area of research that has recently become very popular due to the rise of work on memristor-type technologies, which are a part of this effort. This work has and will continue to expand the knowledge in this area and and push toward commercialization of the technologies in Canada adding a complementary effort to software-based AI, in which Canada is already at the forefront.