Accelerate & Actualize: Can 2D Materials Bridge the Gap Between Neuromorphic Hardware and the Human Brain?

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of 2D materials to advance neuromorphic hardware by leveraging their unique properties for non-volatile memory devices, highlighting recent progress and remaining challenges.

Contribution

It reviews the state-of-the-art in 2D material-based neuromorphic devices and discusses the key challenges in scalable synthesis and device performance.

Findings

2D materials enable diverse non-volatile memory applications.

Atomically-thin structures offer performance advantages in neuromorphic devices.

Device variability remains a significant challenge for practical applications.

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials present an exciting opportunity for devices and systems beyond the von Neumann computing architecture paradigm due to their diversity of electronic structure, physical properties, and atomically-thin, van der Waals structures that enable ease of integration with conventional electronic materials and silicon-based hardware. All major classes of non-volatile memory (NVM) devices have been demonstrated using 2D materials, including their operation as synaptic devices for applications in neuromorphic computing hardware. Their atomically-thin structure, superior physical properties, i.e., mechanical strength, electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as gate-tunable electronic properties provide performance advantages and novel functionality in NVM devices and systems. However, device performance and variability as compared to incumbent materials and technology remain major concerns for real applications. Ultimately, the progress of 2D materials as a novel class of electronic materials and specifically their application in the area of neuromorphic electronics will depend on their scalable synthesis in thin-film form with desired crystal quality, defect density, and phase purity.