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Researchers develop neuromorphic computing — the quest for computers that think like people

Published Apr 02, 2020

A multidisciplinary team led by Texas A&M University (USA) chemist Sarbajit Banerjee has discovered a neuron-like electrical switching mechanism in the solid-state material β’-CuxV2O5 that reversibly morphs between conducting and insulating behavior on command.

The team includes Dr. Mohammed Al-Hashimi from Texas A&M’s Qatar campus, Texas A&M electrical and computer engineer R. Stanley Williams, and additional colleagues from across North America. 

In their quest to develop new modes of energy efficient computing, the broad-based collaborators is capitalizing on materials with tunable electronic instabilities to achieve what’s known as neuromorphic computing, or computing designed to replicate the human brain’s unique capabilities and unmatched efficiencies. The team was able to clarify the underlying mechanism driving this behavior by taking a new look at β’-CuxV2O5, a remarkable chameleon-like material that changes with temperature or an applied electrical stimulus.

In the process, the researchers zeroed in on how copper ions move around inside the material and how this subtle dance in turn sloshes electrons around to transform the material. The research revealed that the movement of copper ions is the linchpin of an electrical conductivity change that can be leveraged to create electrical spikes in the same way that neurons function in the cerebral nervous system — a major step toward developing circuitry that functions like the human brain. Their resulting paper was published in the Cell Press journal Matter and was made possible with support from Qatar National Research Fund.