HORIZON-2020: Research and Innovation Staff Exchange Action
Memristive and multiferroic materials for logic units in nanoelectronics
MELON
The most simplistic computational model of a neuron is an 'on-off' switch, with a '0' representing a resting state and a '1' representing an axon firing an action potential. While this lends itself well to conventional digital electronics and silicon-based transistors, it does not represent the incredible natural 'state' space of a real neuron. When it comes to realising the potential of a brain-like processing system, novel materials are needed. The EU-funded MELON project has created an expert consortium of academic institutions and an SME to explore novel materials with history-dependent conductivity to emulate neuronal connectivity. Together with materials capable of multivalued logic and interconnects, the team plans to deliver the building blocks of tomorrow's emergent computing circuits...
Develop the innovative material platform...
... to emulate self-organization of neuronal connections, ...
...and overcome the tyranny of the deterministic binary logic...
...to make a machine think like a human
Diego Rubi, “Memristive Devices: towards new bio-inspired electronics”
The exponential growth of artificial intelligence has been fueled by advancements in hardware technologies, which have allowed us to tackle a wide variety of scientific and technological problems. One area that has seen significant progress is the development of neuromorphic computing materials, which seeks to mimic the structure and information-processing mechanisms of biological systems. MELON's researchers from Argentina in collaboration with Spain, and France made an important contribution to this field by adding new materials to the list of materials that can realize the behavior of both neurons and synapses on the same device. These new materials are phase-separated manganites, and their ability to function as both neurons and synapses could be a key feature for the development of neuromorphic computing hardware...
Multilevel devices demonstrating switchable polarization enable us to efficiently realize neuromorphic functionalities including synaptic plasticity and neuronal activity. MELON's researchers designed the ferroelectric unit comprising multiple nanodots for implementation of the topologically configurable non-binary logic cell and integrated it into a gate stack of the field-effect transistor as an analog-like device with resistive states. The devised ferroelectric multilevel devices provide a pathway toward the novel topologically-controlled implementation of discrete synaptic states in neuromorphic computing...
Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering (2023)
Epitaxial ferroelectric memristors integrated with silicon
Neuromorphic computing requires the development of solid-state units able to electrically mimic the behavior of biological neurons and synapses. This can be achieved by developing memristive systems based on ferroelectric oxides. MELON researchers fabricated and characterized high-quality ferroelectric memristors integrated with silicon, demonstrating remanent resistance loops with tunable ON/OFF ratio and asymmetric resistance relaxations. These properties might be harnessed for the development of neuromorphic hardware compatible with existing silicon-based technology. The results are published in the open-science journal Frontiers in Nanotechnology 3:1092177 (2022)
I will study Science!
Dr. Cynthia Quinteros, a member of MELON research project, presented an overview of the scientific life from the perspective of her own personal experiences. The presentation, organized in frame of the program ROOT, was devoted to unveil some myths regarding the archetypical figure of a scientist by the presentation of a real-life example, a woman scientist educated in a foreign in-development country. The talk was conducted in English with simultaneous translation to Dutch, and accompanied by an accordingly designed presentation. The engagement of the kids in the activity was evaluated as positive based on the questions formulated after the talk. The initiative ROOTS consists of a multilingual science programme for kids of 8 -12 years old and supported by the University of Groningen. Its main goal aimed to impact in the university’s neighbouring communities by promoting scientific vocations. See online ...
