Abstract
In order to address a fundamental bottleneck of conventional digital computers, there is recently a tremendous upsurge of investigations on hardware-based neuromorphic systems. To emulate the functionalities of artificial neural networks, various synaptic devices and their 2-D cross-point array structures have been proposed. In our previous work, we proposed the 3-D synapse array architecture based on a charge-trap flash (CTF) memory. It has the advantages of high-density integration of 3-D stacking technology and excellent reliability characteristics of mature CTF device technology. This paper examines some issues of the 3-D synapse array architecture. Also, we propose an improved structure and programming method compared to the previous work. The synaptic characteristics of the proposed method are closely examined and validated through a technology computer-aided design (TCAD) device simulation and a system-level simulation for the pattern recognition task. The proposed technology will be the promising solution for high-performance and high-reliability of neuromorphic hardware systems.
Highlights
Neuromorphic systems have been attracting much attention for next-generation computing systems to overcome the von Neumann architecture [1,2,3,4,5]
We proposed a 3-D stacked synapse array based on a charge trap flash (CTF)
Using a pattern recognition application with the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) database, we demonstrate the improvement of the proposed method
Summary
Neuromorphic systems have been attracting much attention for next-generation computing systems to overcome the von Neumann architecture [1,2,3,4,5]. The term “neuromorphic” refers to an artificial neural system that mimics neurons and synapses of the biological nervous system [3]. A synapse refers to the junction between neurons, and each synapse has its own synaptic weight which is the connection strength between neurons [6]. Synaptic weight can be represented by the conductance of synapse device. The requirements of a synapse device to implement a neuromorphic system are as follows: small cell size, low-energy consumption, multi-level operations, symmetric and linear weight change, high endurance and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility [5]
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