Bio-realistic and versatile artificial dendrites made of anti-ambipolar transistors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a bio-realistic artificial dendrite using anti-ambipolar transistors, enhancing neuromorphic computing by mimicking complex dendritic functions and improving neural network robustness.

Contribution

It presents the first versatile, bio-realistic artificial dendrite made of heterojunction transistors, capable of mimicking dendritic Ca2+ action potentials and regulating synaptic plasticity.

Findings

Artificial dendrite mimics non-monotonic Ca2+ action potentials

Enhances neural network robustness in non-stationary environments

Mimics dendritic regulation of synaptic plasticity

Abstract

The understanding of neural networks as neuron-synapse binaries has been the foundation of neuroscience, and therefore, the emerging neuromorphic computing technology that takes inspiration from the brain. This dogma, however, has been increasingly challenged by recent neuroscience research in which the downplayed dendrites were found to be active, dynamically unique and computationally powerful. To date, research on artificial dendrites is scarce and the few existing devices are still far from versatile or (and) bio-realistic. A breakthrough is hampered by the limited available physical mechanisms in mainstream device architectures. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a bio-realistic and versatile artificial dendrite made of WSe2/MoS2 heterojunction-channel anti-ambipolar transistor, which can closely mimic the experimentally recorded non-monotonic dendritic Ca2+ action potential that underpins various sophisticated computations. Spiking neural network simulations reveal that the incorporation of this nonconventional but bio-realistic dendritic activation enhances the robustness and representational capability of the network in non-stationary environments. By further exploiting the memristive effect, dendritic anti-ambipolar transistor can naturally mimic Ca2+-mediated regulation of synaptic plasticity (meta-plasticity) at dendritic spine, an important homeostatic phenomenon due to dendritic modulation. The invention of dendritic anti-ambipolar transistor completes the family of neuromorphic transistors and represents a major advance in diversifying the functionality of transistors.