Artificial Brain using

Nanotechnology

By
Swapnil R.Vairale
T.Y.B.Tech-E&Tc
Roll No:-704055
Why Artificial Brain??

 Although traditional, digital computers have

consistently increased in speed and complexity
 But limited by the “von Neumann bottleneck”
(sequential processing of instructions and a
separation between (CPU) & memory)
 They are "a word-at-a-time" devices
 One of today's most sophisticated supercomputer,
IBM's Clue Gene/P, performs 83 times slower than a
cat's brain, but it's a massive machine with more
than 147,000 CPUs, 144 terabytes of memory and a
dedicated power supply.
Is it possible??

 An artificial human brain is science fiction, you are

probably right – for now
 Neuromorphic engineering – a branch totally
dedicated for development of artificial brain
What is neuromorphic engineering ??

 A new interdisciplinary discipline

 Includes nanotechnologies and whose goal is to
design artificial neural systems with physical
architectures similar to biological nervous systems
Challenges in Neuromorphic Engineering

 A synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or

chemical signal to another cell.
 A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits
information by electrical and chemical signaling via synapses with other
cells.

 Human brain contains vastly more synapses than neurons – by a factor of

about 10,000
 Hence the necessity to develop a nanoscale, low power, synapse-like
device
Artificial Synapses

 Can be realized by development of a “Hybrid

nanoparticle-organic transistor” that can
mimic the main functionalities of a synapse
 Also ‘MEMRISTER’ devices are capable of
emulating the biological synapses with properly
designed CMOS neuron components
Memrister

 A two-terminal electronic device whose

conductance can be precisely modulated by charge
or flux through it.
 Has the special property that its resistance can be
programmed (resistor) and subsequently remains
stored (memory).

 Can provide interface between conventional ckts

and artificial & connect conventional ckts and
support a process that is the basis for memory and
learning in biological systems
Synapse & Memristor

 The synaptic weight modulates how signals are

transmitted between neurons and can in turn be
precisely adjusted by the ionic flow through the
synapse.
 A memristor by definition is a resistive device with
inherent memory. It is in fact very similar to a
synapse – they are both two-terminal devices
whose conductance can be modulated by external
stimuli with the ability to store (memorize) the new
information
Memristor as a Synapse

 Fig(a) shows the concept of

using memristors as synapses
between neurons.
 The insets show the
schematics of the two-
terminal device geometry and
the layered structure of the
memristor.
Memristor as a Synapse

 Fig(b) shows a neuromorphic

with CMOS neurons and
memristor synapses in a
crossbar configuration.

 In this setup, the silicon

memristor consists of a pair
of electrodes sandwiching an
amorphous-silicon layer
doped with silver atoms, with
high silver concentration near
the top electrode and low
silver concentration near the
bottom electrode.
Memristor as a Synapse

When a positive voltage is applied

across the memristor, silver ions in
the silicon layer will drift to the
bottom electrode and increase
the overall conductance of the
device, and vice versa

 The new conductance state is maintained until the next voltage pulse is
applied.
 By controlling the silver doping profile and other device parameters,
scientists were able to show that the change in the memristor
conductance is proportional to the time integral of the voltage applied
across it.
 In other words, the device state is not determined by the existing signals
but by the history of the applied signals
Memristor as a Synapse

 Furthermore, this property allows us to precisely

control the memristor conductance with external
stimuli – the longer the voltage pulse is applied
across the memristor the larger the conductance
change is. These properties essentially enable the
memristor to mimic synaptic action.
 An electrical circuit consisting of CMOS 'neurons'
and memristor synapses can achieve spike-timing
dependent plasticity (STDP), an important synaptic
activity.
Memristor as a Synapse

 What is exciting about these results is that it shows

that memristors can behave just like synapses
 These findings show that it is now possible to build
a brain-like computer using electronic components,
namely, transistors and memristors.

 The key is to realize the similarity between

synapses and memristors
Applications of Neuromorphology

 To build brain-like computers using Memristors

 Besides the above to build high density storage
memory
 New approaches to build circuits may be developed
so that the increase in computing power does not
come from the increase in raw device speed (clock
frequency) but comes from the increase in
computing efficiency instead
References & Bibliography

 http://www.nanowerk.com/
 www.blogcdn.com/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor
 http://www.google.co.in/
References & Bibliography

 Research Paper at the University of Michigan (UM)

"Nanoscale Memristor Device as Synapse in
Neuromorphic Systems”( published in
NANOLETTERS magazine)
 Research Paper by Hewlett-Packard Labs
"‘Memristive’ switches enable ‘stateful’ logic
operations via material implication”(published in
NATURE magazine)
Thank You!!!!!!!