Highly Reliable Lateral Migration-Based TFT-Type Neuron Device for Spiking Neural Networks

A CMOS-compatible Thin Film Transistor (TFT)-type Center Path neuron device with homeostasis characteristics is proposed. By modifying the charge injection path of the gate insulator stack, the proposed neuron device operates with lateral migration, which was conventionally perceived as a disadvantage in the memory industry. Various measured electrical characteristics of the Center Path device show that directly injected charges from the channel poly-Si to the charge trap Si<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub>N<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> with low operational voltage laterally migrate to the Si<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub>N<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> layer above the tunneling SiO<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> layer. Furthermore, the proposed Center Path device successfully demonstrates the integration with homeostasis functionality observed in biological neurons due to its discrete operational schemes.