WSe ₂ /graphene heterojunction synaptic phototransistor with both electrically and optically tunable plasticity

Abstract The imitation of synaptic plasticity in artificial neuromorphic devices has been widely realized based on memristors, transistors and ion devices. This development of artificial synaptic devices is expected to open up a new era for neuromorphic computing. However, the complicated functions in biological synapse are dependent on the dynamic neural activities with modulated plasticity, which is still very difficult to emulate at the device level. Here, an artificial synaptic transistor based on WSe ₂ /graphene van der Waals heterojunction is demonstrated with both electrically and optically modulated synaptic plasticity. By changing the polarity of applied V _gs and V _ds as well as superimposed gate voltage spikes, both excitatory and inhibitory synaptic plasticity can be realized in a single device. Moreover, due to the asymmetric optical response of WSe ₂ /graphene heterojunction, optical modulation on hysteretic behaviors is achieved and also contributes to the inversion of synaptic plasticity. Hence, this work demonstrates a coordinated regulation on synaptic plasticity under electrical and optical stimuli and provides a multi-dimensional modulation strategy to understand the underlying mechanisms of complicated neuromorphic computing and further develop multifunctional neuromorphic optoelectronics.