(Correspondent: Binzheng Zhao) Recently, Associate Professor Wang Hong, and Professor Ma Xiaohua of the School of Microelectronics, members of Academician Hao Yue’s team of Xidian University, developed a soluble memristor which can simulate the signal transmission between neurons, and published the research finding,Physically Transient Memristive Synapse with Short-Term Plasticity Based on Magnesium Oxide,in IEEE Electron Device Letters. The finding was specially reported byIEEE Spectrumof IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer).

Brain like chips with high intelligence and low power consumption can be made by using brain like neural morphology devices that mimic human brain neural networks. Nonlinear resistance memristor with memory function can be used to mimic the information processing of biological synapses and neurons, and it is an ideal choice to realize artificial neural network. On the other hand, physical transient electrons refer to electronic devices or systems that can physically disappear after completing their mission.Combining transient materials that can physically disappear on demand within a memristor device can be an effective way to achievesafe application of neural networks.For example, we can throw a transient storage device in water when information security is under serious threat. At the same time,such a design could applied in more environmentally-friendly electronic devices. Recently, the team has made important progress in this field, and successfully designed a water-soluble neuromorphological memristor.

The team put forward awater-assisted transfer printing method which can transferr the device array fabricated by traditional micro / nano machining technology onto transient substrate to form a memristor that mimics signal transduction between neurons and can physically disappear, which finally disintegrated in deionized water within 30 minutes. This can realize the short-term plasticity of synapses, and lays the foundation for the safe application of neural morphology calculation.

Figure 1Schematics of Transient Memristor for Safety Neural Calculation

Figure 2 Photos ofDevice Array and Time Sequence of Dissolution

It is reported thatIEEE spectrum is the flagship of science and technology journal of IEEE. It is mainly used to report the latest research progress in the field of electrical, electronic and computer science in academia and industry, and to forecast and discuss the future trend of technology development.

Introduction of authors:

Sun Jing isdoctoral student ofSchool of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (2015), Supervised by Professor Ma Xiaohua. She follows Associate Professor Wang Hong to make research on physical transient memristor.

Wang Hong is Associate Professor of School of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, was elected Shaanxi Youth Project of "100 Talents Program". His research interests are in physical transient electronic devices and integration methods, and he has made several achievements in physical transient electronic devices, integration methods and new functions. He published over 50Scientific Citation Index Papers in several journals includingIEEE Electron Device Letters, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials,and relevant research findings are reported byIEEE Spectrum，New Scientist, Nanowerk as highlight.

Link to the paper:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8667065

Link toIEEE Spectrumreport:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/memory/now-you-see-it-now-you-dont-a-soluble-memristor