Bursting and excitability in neuromorphic resonant tunneling diodes

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of quantum nanoelectronic resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) as neuromorphic spike generators, revealing mechanisms for excitability, bursting behavior, and multi-stability relevant for neuromorphic computing.

Contribution

It uncovers the excitable and bursting regimes in RTDs and discusses their potential for neuromorphic sensing and memory applications.

Findings

RTDs can generate all-or-nothing spikes

RTDs exhibit bursting behavior with closely packed spikes

RTDs can function as memory devices

Abstract

We study in this paper the dynamics of quantum nanoelectronic resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) as excitable neuromorphic spike generators. We disclose the mechanisms by which the RTD creates excitable all-or-nothing spikes and we identify a regime of bursting in which the RTD emits a random number of closely packed spikes. The control of the latter is paramount for applications in event-activated neuromorphic sensing and computing. Finally, we discuss a regime of multi-stability in which the RTD behaves as a memory. Our results can be extended to other devices exhibiting negative differential conductance.