Design of inorganic materials for brain-like computing

Science Daily  March 3, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (Texas A&M, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) demonstrated that β′-CuxV2O5 exhibits a pronounced nonlinear response to applied temperature, voltage, and current, and the response can be modulated as a function of Cu stoichiometry. Unlike other materials that have a metal-insulator transition (MIT), this material relies on the movement of copper ions within a rigid lattice of vanadium and oxygen. They clarified the underlying mechanism driving this behavior. The utilization of coupled cation diffusion and polaron oscillation further demonstrates a means of using ionic vectors to obtain highly nonlinear conductance […]

Brain-like functions emerging in a metallic nanowire network

Nanowerk  December 27, 2019 An international team of researchers (Japan, Australia, USA – UCLA) built a complex brain-like network by integrating numerous silver nanowires coated with a polymer (PVP) insulating layer. A junction between two nanowires forms a synaptic element that behaves like a neuronal synapse forming an intricately interacting “neuromorphic network” when a voltage was applied to it. The research team measured the processes of current pathway formation, retention and deactivation while electric current was flowing through the network and found that these processes always fluctuate as they progress, similar to the human brain’s memorization, learning, and forgetting processes. […]