Implementation and Characterization of an Integrate-and-Fire Neuron Circuit Using a Silicon Nanowire Feedback Field-Effect Transistor
Sola Woo, Jinsun Cho, Doohyeok Lim, Young-Soo Park, Kyoungah Cho, Sangsig Kim
Abstract
In this article, we propose an integrate-and-fire (IF) neuron circuit using a single-gated silicon nanowire feedback field-effect transistor that utilizes a positive feedback loop. The IF operations are investigated through mixed-mode technology computer-aided design simulations. The neuron circuit composed of four component transistors (plus one capacitor) exhibits a high firing frequency of ~20 kHz and low power and energy consumption of 7 μW and 2.9 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-15</sup> J. The firing frequency and spiking voltage can be controlled through external biasing voltages. Our novel neuron circuit demonstrates a promising potential for use in spiking neural network hardware for very large-scale integration.