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Gamma radiation-induced nanodefects in diffusive memristors and artificial neurons

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posted on 2023-10-16, 13:20 authored by Debi Prasad Pattnaik, Carl Andrews, Michael Cropper, Alex Gabbitas, Alexander BalanovAlexander Balanov, Sergey SavelievSergey Saveliev, Pavel BorisovPavel Borisov

Gamma photons of the average energy of 1.25 MeV are well-known to generate large amounts of defects in semiconductor electronic devices. Here we investigate the novel effect of gamma radiation on diffusive memristors based on metallic silver nanoparticles dispersed in dielectric matrix of silica. Our experimental findings show that after exposing to radiation, the memristors and aritifical neurons made of them demonstrate much better performance in terms of stable volatile resistive switching and higher spiking frequencies, respectively, compared to the pristine samples. At the same time we observe partial oxidation of silver and reduction of silicon within the switching silica layer. We propose nanoinclusions of reduced silicon distributed across the silica layer to be the backbone for metallic nanoparticles to form conduction filaments, as supported by our theoretical simulations of radiation-induced changes in the diffusion process. Our findings propose a new opportunity to engineer required characteristics of diffusive memristors in order to emulate biological neurons and develop bio-inspired computational technology.

Funding

Neuromorphic memristive circuits to simulate inhibitory and excitatory dynamics of neuron networks: from physiological similarities to deep learning

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

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History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Physics

Published in

Nanoscale

Volume

15

Issue

38

Pages

15665-15674

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Rights holder

© The Authors

Publisher statement

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Acceptance date

2023-08-20

Publication date

2023-08-31

Copyright date

2023

ISSN

2040-3364

eISSN

2040-3372

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Pavel Borisov. Deposit date: 14 September 2023

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