Fully Electrically Modulated Hetero-Synapses With Lateral Multigate Ferroelectric Thin Film Transistor

In the human brain, astrocytes modulate synaptic activities by either enhancing or inhibiting neurotransmitter transmission. It is crucial to develop and simulate this hetero-synaptic function in neuromorphic computing. This research presents a pioneering fully electrically modulated lateral multigate ferroelectric thin film transistor (FeTFT) device that integrates pre-synaptic neurons (Gate-1),postsynaptic neurons, and additional modulated gate terminals (Gate-2), which can efficiently simulate astrocyte function in biological synapses. In addition, it allows a dynamic modulation range of more than tenfold, with a remarkably low power consumption of 150 fJ per spike. The lateral multigate FeTFT surpasses competing designs with its integrability and bidirectional modulation capability based on full electrical modulation, multigate extensibility, high energy efficiency, and compatibility with CMOS technology. In summary, this conceptual innovation is proposed to facilitate to enable the realization of comprehensive and complicated synaptic behaviors, paving a new path for high-efficiency neuromorphic computing hardware systems.