Learning through ferroelectric domain dynamics in solid-state synapses
10.1038/ncomms14736
Crossref journal-article
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Nature Communications (297)
Abstract

AbstractIn the brain, learning is achieved through the ability of synapses to reconfigure the strength by which they connect neurons (synaptic plasticity). In promising solid-state synapses called memristors, conductance can be finely tuned by voltage pulses and set to evolve according to a biological learning rule called spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). Future neuromorphic architectures will comprise billions of such nanosynapses, which require a clear understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for plasticity. Here we report on synapses based on ferroelectric tunnel junctions and show that STDP can be harnessed from inhomogeneous polarization switching. Through combined scanning probe imaging, electrical transport and atomic-scale molecular dynamics, we demonstrate that conductance variations can be modelled by the nucleation-dominated reversal of domains. Based on this physical model, our simulations show that arrays of ferroelectric nanosynapses can autonomously learn to recognize patterns in a predictable way, opening the path towards unsupervised learning in spiking neural networks.

Bibliography

Boyn, S., Grollier, J., Lecerf, G., Xu, B., Locatelli, N., Fusil, S., Girod, S., Carrétéro, C., Garcia, K., Xavier, S., Tomas, J., Bellaiche, L., Bibes, M., Barthélémy, A., Saïghi, S., & Garcia, V. (2017). Learning through ferroelectric domain dynamics in solid-state synapses. Nature Communications, 8(1).

Authors 16
  1. Sören Boyn (first)
  2. Julie Grollier (additional)
  3. Gwendal Lecerf (additional)
  4. Bin Xu (additional)
  5. Nicolas Locatelli (additional)
  6. Stéphane Fusil (additional)
  7. Stéphanie Girod (additional)
  8. Cécile Carrétéro (additional)
  9. Karin Garcia (additional)
  10. Stéphane Xavier (additional)
  11. Jean Tomas (additional)
  12. Laurent Bellaiche (additional)
  13. Manuel Bibes (additional)
  14. Agnès Barthélémy (additional)
  15. Sylvain Saïghi (additional)
  16. Vincent Garcia (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 8 years, 4 months ago (April 3, 2017, 5:30 a.m.)
Deposited 2 years, 7 months ago (Dec. 22, 2022, 7:12 p.m.)
Indexed 3 days, 11 hours ago (Aug. 19, 2025, 6:54 a.m.)
Issued 8 years, 4 months ago (April 3, 2017)
Published 8 years, 4 months ago (April 3, 2017)
Published Online 8 years, 4 months ago (April 3, 2017)
Funders 0

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@article{Boyn_2017, title={Learning through ferroelectric domain dynamics in solid-state synapses}, volume={8}, ISSN={2041-1723}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14736}, DOI={10.1038/ncomms14736}, number={1}, journal={Nature Communications}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Boyn, Sören and Grollier, Julie and Lecerf, Gwendal and Xu, Bin and Locatelli, Nicolas and Fusil, Stéphane and Girod, Stéphanie and Carrétéro, Cécile and Garcia, Karin and Xavier, Stéphane and Tomas, Jean and Bellaiche, Laurent and Bibes, Manuel and Barthélémy, Agnès and Saïghi, Sylvain and Garcia, Vincent}, year={2017}, month=apr }