npj 2D Materials and Applications (Jun 2021)
Carrier-capture-assisted optoelectronics based on van der Waals materials to imitate medicine-acting metaplasticity
Abstract
Abstract Recently, researchers have focused on optoelectronics based on two-dimensional van der Waals materials to realize multifunctional memory and neuron applications. Layered indium selenide (InSe) semiconductors satisfy various requirements as photosensitive channel materials, and enable the realization of intriguing optoelectronic applications. Herein, we demonstrate InSe photonic devices with different trends of output currents rooted in the carrier capture/release events under various gate voltages. Furthermore, we reported an increasing/flattening/decreasing synaptic weight change index (∆W n ) via a modulated gate electric field, which we use to imitate medicine-acting metaplasticity with effective/stable/ineffective features analogous to the synaptic weight change in the nervous system of the human brain. Finally, we take advantage of the low-frequency noise (LFN) measurements and the energy-band explanation to verify the rationality of carrier capture-assisted optoelectronics applied to neural simulation at the device level. Utilizing optoelectronics to simulate essential biomedical neurobehaviors, we experimentally demonstrate the feasibility and meaningfulness of combining electronic engineering with biomedical neurology.