CN113241369B - A PN microwire that mimics nerve fibers supporting solitary wave conduction - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a PN micron line supporting soliton and simulating nerve fibers, which comprises a transmission line, wherein the transmission line is a micron line formed by etching to a depletion region of a GaMnAs/GaAs plate, the transmission line comprises a main line and a plurality of branch lines, and one end of each branch line is connected with one end of the main line; the other ends of the branch lines are provided with dendritic connection contact pairs; the main line is bent to form a plurality of axons, and a plurality of axon connecting contact pairs are arranged on the main line; cell body connecting contact pairs are arranged at the nodes where the main lines are connected with the multiple branch lines; the dendrite connection contact pair, the axon connection contact pair, the cell body connection contact pair and the axon connection contact pair are P-N electrode pairs, each P-N electrode pair comprises a P-type electrode and an N-type electrode, each P-type electrode is a P-type contact surface covered with a metal film, and each N-type electrode is an N-type contact surface covered with a metal film. The invention has high similarity with nerve fibers and supports soliton wave conduction.

Description

A PN microwire that mimics nerve fibers supporting solitary wave conduction

technical field

The invention belongs to the technical field of semiconductors, and in particular relates to a PN microwire that supports solitary wave conduction and simulates nerve fibers.

Background technique

The brain-like computing system draws on the structural logic and information processing method of the biological nervous system, and has the advantages of high intelligence, high fault tolerance, and low energy consumption. It is expected to replace the traditional von Neumann computer and become a more flexible and intelligent computing paradigm. As the basic unit of brain-inspired computing systems, neuromorphic devices are designed to highly simulate biological nerves at various levels such as working mechanism and functional applications, which are crucial to the realization of brain-inspired computing. Therefore, the preparation of neuromorphic devices has become a current research hotspot.

Nerve fibers are pathways through which spiking nerve signals are transmitted in space, which can introduce time delays for the conduction of nerve signals. For example, the dendritic part of a nerve cell can receive signals from multiple nerve cells and transmit it to the cell body part of the nerve cell for computational processing after a certain time delay. The cell body, on the other hand, can detect the synchronization of input signals and generate outputs based on the temporal correlation of the input signals. That is, the spatial conduction and temporal delay of neural signals are key elements of neural computing. For example, Hebbian's law of learning, which plays an important role in the human brain's memory and learning process, is based on the principle of spike-time-dependent plasticity. Another example is the owl's auditory system, which completes sound localization based on the arrival time of spiking nerve signals. Therefore, modeling nerve fibers is of great significance.

A solitary wave (soliton wave) is a kind of shear wave caused by nonlinear action, and its shape remains unchanged during motion. Soliton waves have applications in everything from quantum mechanics to the transmission of optical information to the structure of DNA. The signal conducted by nerve fibers is KDV solitons. An important characteristic of KDV solitons is that the initial pulse will be decomposed into a group of solitons that gradually decay during the propagation process. Most of the existing nerve fiber simulation technologies do not consider the characteristics of soliton waves, which leads to the problem of signal conduction distortion, and the simulation effect is not good.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a PN microwire that supports solitary wave conduction and simulates nerve fibers, so as to solve the above technical problems.

The present invention provides a PN micro-wire supporting solitary wave conduction and simulating nerve fibers, including a transmission line, the transmission line being a micro-wire formed by etching to a depletion region of a GaMnAs/GaAs plate, the transmission line comprising a main line and a plurality of branch lines , one end of the plurality of said branch lines is connected with one end of the main line; the other end of the plurality of said branch lines is provided with a pair of dendritic connection contacts; the main line is bent to form a plurality of axons, and the main line is There are a plurality of axonal connection contact pairs; a cell body connection contact pair is arranged at the node where the main line and the multiple branch lines are connected;

The dendritic connection contact pair, the axonal connection contact pair, the cell body connection contact pair, and the axonal connection contact pair are all P-N electrode pairs, and the P-N electrode pair includes a P-type electrode and an N-type electrode. The P-type electrode is a P-type contact surface covered with a metal film, and the N-type electrode is an N-type contact surface covered with a metal film.

Further, the width of the transmission line is 1.5 μm.

Further, the transmission line includes three branch lines, and the three branch lines correspond to three dendritic connection contact pairs respectively, and the three dendritic connection contact pairs are respectively a first contact pair, a second contact pair and a third contact pair. point pair, wherein the first contact pair is between the second contact pair and the third contact pair; the cell body connecting contact pair is the fourth connecting contact pair; the main line is bent out of two axons, and is provided with The eight axonal connection contact pairs are the fifth contact pair, the sixth contact pair, the seventh contact pair, the eighth contact pair, the ninth contact pair, the tenth contact pair, and the eleventh contact pair. A contact pair and a twelfth contact pair.

Further, the two axons are respectively a first axon and a second axon, wherein the seventh contact pair is arranged before the first axon, and the eighth contact pair is arranged between the first axon and the second axon. Between the axons, the ninth contact pair is arranged behind the second axon; the fifth contact pair and the sixth contact pair are arranged between the fourth contact pair and the seventh contact pair; the tenth contact pair is the first The eleven contact pairs and the twelfth contact pair are both arranged at the other end of the main line.

Further, the distance between the first contact pair and the second contact pair is 635.7 μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the third contact pair is 635.7 μm, and the distance between the first contact pair and the fourth contact pair is 635.7 μm. is 310 μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the fifth contact pair is 721 μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the sixth contact pair is 1118 μm, and the distance between the first contact pair and the seventh contact pair is 1518μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the eighth contact pair is 3017μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the ninth contact pair is 4516μm, and the distance between the first contact pair and the tenth contact pair is 5815.5μm , the distance between the first contact pair and the eleventh contact pair is 5860.5 μm, and the distance between the first contact pair and the twelfth contact pair is 5905.5 μm.

Further, the first contact pair is an electrical pulse signal input terminal, the second contact pair, the third contact pair, the fourth contact pair, the fifth contact pair, the sixth contact pair, and the seventh contact pair. The point pair, the eighth contact pair, the ninth contact pair, the tenth contact pair, the eleventh contact pair and the twelfth contact pair are all electrical pulse signal detection terminals.

Further, the starting voltage of the first contact pair is 0.7V.

Further, the P-type electrode and the N-type electrode of the P-N electrode pair are connected across the transmission line.

The beneficial effect of the present invention is that,

The present invention provides a PN microwire simulating nerve fiber supporting solitary wave conduction, simulating structures such as dendrites, axons and cell body access points, taking into account the lateral resistance of nerve fibers along the membrane, and the diameter of passing through the membrane. Corresponding simulations of electrical conductivity and membrane capacitance of neural membranes, thus having a high similarity to nerve fibers, support solitary wave conduction, and stable electrical signal transmission speeds.

In addition, the present invention has reliable design principle and simple structure, and has a very wide application prospect.

Description of drawings

In order to illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. In other words, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without creative labor.

1 is a schematic structural diagram of a PN microwire simulating nerve fiber supporting solitary wave conduction according to an embodiment of the present application;

Among them, 1, dendrite, 2, cell body; 3, axon.

Detailed ways

In order to make those skilled in the art better understand the technical solutions of the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described The embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, but not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention and the features of the embodiments may be combined with each other under the condition of no conflict.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "installed", "connected" and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, for example, it may be a fixed connection or a detachable connection Connection, or integral connection; can be mechanical connection, can also be electrical connection; can be directly connected, can also be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, can be internal communication between two elements. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood through specific situations.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and in conjunction with the embodiments.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , this embodiment provides a PN micron wire that supports solitary wave conduction to simulate nerve fibers, and the PN micron wire that supports solitary wave conduction to simulate nerve fibers includes a transmission line, and the transmission line is a consumable etched to GaMnAs/GaAs plate For the micron line formed in the exhaust area, the transmission line includes a main line and a plurality of branch lines. One end of the plurality of branch lines is connected to one end of the main line; the other end of the plurality of branch lines is provided with dendritic connection contact pairs; axons, and there are multiple axonal connection contact pairs on the main line; there are cell body connection contact pairs at the nodes where the main line and multiple branch lines are connected; among which the dendrite connection contact pair and the axon connection contact point The pair, the cell body connection contact pair and the axon connection contact pair are all P-N electrode pairs. The P-N electrode pair includes a P-type electrode and an N-type electrode. The P-type electrode is a P-type contact surface covered with a metal film, and the N-type electrode is It is an N-type contact surface covered with a metal film.

In this embodiment, GaMnAs/GaAs plate is used as the base of PN micro-wires, because GaMnAs/GaAs is a magnetic semiconductor material, and Mn ions provide a magnetic moment. If there is an external magnetic field, the magnetic moment will be reversed, which will affect the magnetic flux and generate inductance in the circuit. , with the inductance term, so the equivalent circuit of the PN microwire has the conduction function of the electric soliton.

The width of the transmission line is 1.5 μm. The microwire was designed as a transmission line with 3 functional parts, dendrite 1, cell body 2 and axon. The length of the microwire is 5905.5 μs. Pairs of p-type and n-type electrodes are connected across the wire so that we can feed information into the wire and measure the signal propagating along the wire. The transmission line is made of the depletion region of the p-n junction. In Figure 1, the p-type electrodes are labeled with Pi (i=1,2,3...12), and the n-type electrodes are labeled with ni (i=1,2,3...12). Usually, we use the first p-n pair p1-n1 to receive external signals. Table 1 shows the distance from the first p-n pair to the nth p-n pair.

In this embodiment, the transmission line includes three branch lines, and the three branch lines correspond to the three dendrite 1 connection contact pairs respectively, and the three dendrite 1 connection contact pairs are respectively the first contact pair, the second contact pair and the third contact pair. Three contact pairs, in which the first contact pair is between the second contact pair and the third contact pair; the cell body 2 connecting contact pair is the fourth connecting contact pair; the main line bends out two axons, And there are eight axon connection contact pairs, which are the fifth contact pair, the sixth contact pair, the seventh contact pair, the eighth contact pair, the ninth contact pair, the tenth contact pair, The eleventh contact pair and the twelfth contact pair. Specifically, the p-type and N-type electrodes are coupled across the line. The contact pair represented by pi (i=1,2,3...12) is p-type. The contact pair represented by ni (i=1, 2, 3...12) is of n-type. The contact pair p1-n1, p2-n2, p3-n3 in the p-n line corresponds to the terminal connected to dendrite 1, the contact pair p4-n4 corresponds to the terminal connected to the cell body 2, and the contact pair p5-n5 , p6-n6, ... and p12-n12 correspond to the terminals connected to the axon.

The two axons are respectively the first axon and the second axon, wherein the seventh contact pair is arranged before the first axon, the eighth contact pair is arranged between the first axon and the second axon, and the first contact pair is arranged between the first and second axons. The nine contact pairs are arranged after the second axon; the fifth contact pair and the sixth contact pair are arranged between the fourth contact pair and the seventh contact pair; the tenth contact pair is the eleventh contact pair and the twelfth contact pair are provided at the other end of the main line.

Among them, the distance between the contact pairs is shown in the following table:

Table 1 Distance relationship from the first p-n pair to the nth p-n pair D_1→n (1 and n represent the 1st and nth pn pair) Distance (μm) D_1→2 635.7 D_1→4 310 D_1→5 721 D_1→6 1118 D_1→7 1518 D_1→8 3017 D_1→9 4516 D_1→10 5815.5 D_1→11 5860.5. D_1→12 5905.5

The distance between the first contact pair and the second contact pair is 635.7 μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the third contact pair is 635.7 μm, and the distance between the first contact pair and the fourth contact pair is 310 μm, The distance between the first contact pair and the fifth contact pair is 721 μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the sixth contact pair is 1118 μm, and the distance between the first contact pair and the seventh contact pair is 1518 μm. The distance between the contact pair and the eighth contact pair is 3017 μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the ninth contact pair is 4516 μm, the distance between the first contact pair and the tenth contact pair is 5815.5 μm, and the first contact pair is 5815.5 μm. The distance between the point pair and the eleventh contact pair is 5860.5 μm, and the distance between the first contact pair and the twelfth contact pair is 5905.5 μm. The first contact pair is the electrical pulse signal input end, the second contact pair, the third contact pair, the fourth contact pair, the fifth contact pair, the sixth contact pair, the seventh contact pair, and the eighth contact pair The contact pair, the ninth contact pair, the tenth contact pair, the eleventh contact pair and the twelfth contact pair are all electrical pulse signal detection terminals.

The starting voltage of the first contact pair is 0.7V. The P-type electrode and the N-type electrode of the P-N electrode pair are connected across the transmission line.

p-n microwires have the potential to mimic nerve fibers. First, p-n junctions have similar electrical structures and properties to nerve cells. The key elements that give nerve cells their electrical properties include the cell membrane, charge carriers, and the resting potential on the cell membrane. The cell membrane is equivalent to an insulator, allowing different charges to accumulate on the inside and outside of the cell membrane, respectively. The movement of charge carriers in and out of the cell membrane generates spiking neural signals. The resting potential is a parameter related to the distribution of charges on the cell membrane and can be calculated by the Nernst equation. The depletion layer in a p-n junction is an insulating region that can spatially separate p-type and n-type semiconductors on both sides, analogous to the cell membrane of a nerve cell. Charge carriers, such as holes and electrons, in p-type and n-type semiconductors can be analogized to the charge carriers on both sides of a cell membrane. The potential barrier caused by the unbalanced distribution of charge carriers in the depletion layer of the p-n junction also conforms to the Nernst equation, so it can be used to analogize the resting potential on the cell membrane. Second, the electrical properties of the p-n junction are similar to the electrical properties of nerve electrical signals conducted along nerve fibers. The conduction characteristics of nerve electrical signals are related to three physical quantities: the transverse resistance along the membrane, the radial conductivity through the membrane and the membrane capacitance of the nerve membrane. The lateral resistance along the membrane comes from the resistance of capillaries to the movement of charges. For neurons surrounded by a large amount of conductive fluid, the internal resistance is greater than the external resistance. And for semiconductors like GaAs, n-type mobility is greater than p-type. Therefore, we can use the resistance between the p-type electrodes of the GaAs-based p-n line to model the internal resistance, and use the resistance between the n-type electrodes of the GaAs-based p-n line to model the external resistance. Radial conductance across neuronal cell membranes has a nonlinear characteristic because ion channels on neuronal cell membranes are voltage-controlled and open only when the membrane potential exceeds a threshold. While the exponential conductivity of the p-n junction exhibits equivalent nonlinearity. Regarding the membrane capacitance on the neuron cell membrane, it can be modeled by the depletion layer capacitance of the p-n line. The rate at which the capacitor charges and discharges determines the speed of the signal. Third, it has been experimentally demonstrated that p-n lines can functionally mimic nerve fibers. For example, p-n lines can simulate the ability of nerve fibers to integrate multiple inputs in space and time and generate above-threshold voltage pulses. P-n lines can also exhibit stochastic resonance phenomena similar to those in biological neurons.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the number of transmission branches in the dendritic region, the number of axons, and the number and position of contact pairs can be adjusted as required.

Although the present invention has been described in detail in conjunction with the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto. Without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, those of ordinary skill in the art can make various equivalent modifications or substitutions to the embodiments of the present invention, and these modifications or substitutions should all fall within the scope of the present invention/any Those skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, which should all be included within the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (8)

1. The PN micron line supporting the soliton wave conduction and simulating the nerve fibers is characterized by comprising a transmission line, wherein the transmission line is a micron line formed by etching to a depletion region of a GaMnAs/GaAs plate, the transmission line comprises a main line and a plurality of branch lines, and one ends of the branch lines are connected with one end of the main line; the other ends of the branch lines are provided with dendritic connection contact pairs; the main line is bent to form a plurality of axons, and a plurality of axon connecting contact pairs are arranged on the main line; cell body connecting contact pairs are arranged at the nodes where the main lines are connected with the multiple branch lines;

the dendrite connection contact pair, the axon connection contact pair, the cell body connection contact pair and the axon connection contact pair are P-N electrode pairs, each P-N electrode pair comprises a P-type electrode and an N-type electrode, each P-type electrode is a P-type contact surface covered with a metal film, and each N-type electrode is an N-type contact surface covered with a metal film.

2. The PN micron line of analog nerve fibers supporting soliton according to claim 1, wherein the transmission line has a width of 1.5 μ ι η.

3. The PN micron line of analog nerve fibers supporting soliton according to claim 2, wherein the transmission line comprises three branches, each of the three branches corresponding to three dendrite connection contact pairs, each of the three dendrite connection contact pairs being a first contact pair, a second contact pair and a third contact pair, wherein the first contact pair is between the second contact pair and the third contact pair; the cell body connecting contact pair is a fourth connecting contact pair; the main line is bent to form two axons, and eight axon connecting contact pairs are arranged and respectively include a fifth contact pair, a sixth contact pair, a seventh contact pair, an eighth contact pair, a ninth contact pair, a tenth contact pair, an eleventh contact pair and a twelfth contact pair.

4. The PN micron line of simulated nerve fiber supporting soliton according to claim 3, wherein the two axons are a first axon and a second axon, respectively, wherein a seventh contact pair is disposed before the first axon, an eighth contact pair is disposed between the first axon and the second axon, and a ninth contact pair is disposed after the second axon; the fifth contact pair and the sixth contact pair are arranged between the fourth contact pair and the seventh contact pair; the tenth contact pair and the eleventh contact pair and the twelfth contact pair are both provided at the other end of the main line.

5. The PN micron line of analog nerve fiber supporting soliton wave conduction according to claim 4, wherein the first contact pair is 635.7 μm from the second contact pair, the first contact pair is 635.7 μm from the third contact pair, the first contact pair is 310 μm from the fourth contact pair, the first contact pair is 721 μm from the fifth contact pair, the first contact pair is 1118 μm from the sixth contact pair, the first contact pair is 1518 μm from the seventh contact pair, the first contact pair is 3017 μm from the eighth contact pair, the first contact pair is 4516 μm from the ninth contact pair, the first contact pair is 5815.5 μm from the tenth contact pair, the first contact pair is 5860.5 μm from the eleventh contact pair, and the first contact pair is 5905.5 μm from the twelfth contact pair.

6. The nerve fiber simulating PN micron line supporting soliton according to claim 4, wherein the first contact pair is an electrical pulse signal input terminal, and the second contact pair, the third contact pair, the fourth contact pair, the fifth contact pair, the sixth contact pair, the seventh contact pair, the eighth contact pair, the ninth contact pair, the tenth contact pair, the eleventh contact pair and the twelfth contact pair are electrical pulse signal detection terminals.

7. The PN microwire of analog nerve fibers supporting soliton of claim 6, wherein the first contact pair has an onset voltage of 0.7V.

8. The PN microwire of analog nerve fibers supporting soliton according to claim 1, wherein the P-type electrodes of the P-N electrode pair are connected to the N-type electrode transtransmission line.

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