Field Effect Transistor-Type Devices Using High-κ Gate Insulator Stacks for Neuromorphic Applications

With ability to process data in an energy-efficient way, neuromorphic computing is suggested to overcome the issues of a traditional von Neumann computing system. Neuromorphic computing is composed of two crucial features of neurons and synapses, in which neurons integrate all the charges while synapses retain these charges. In this paper, we fabricate and analyze devices for mimicking neurons and synapses in a single Si-based metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) structure. We fabricate and analyze Al2O3/Si3N4 (A/N) and Al2O3/HfO2/Si3N4/SiO2 (A/H/N/O) devices to suggest that an A/N device could be used as a neuron device due to its fast charge emission characteristics, while the A/H/N/O device could be used as a synaptic device as added tunneling SiO2 causes the device to retain its charges for a long-period of time. We suggest the possibility of fabricating both neurons and synapses by adopting different gate insulator stack structures in MOSFETs.