Nonlinear signal conversion in gold nanoparticle random array for physical reservoir applications

Abstract

We present nonlinear electrical characteristics of a random array of gold nanoparticles (GNPs). We fabricated a GNP random array with six electrodes by using dielectrophoresis. The Coulomb blockade appeared on current–voltage characteristics at 4.2 K. Input–output characteristics of the GNP random array were also measured for a configuration with one-input and three-output terminals. For a sinusoidal voltage input of 100 Hz, distorted output voltage waveforms were acquired at the three output terminals. Higher harmonic components were confirmed on the FFT spectra of the outputs. Wave reconstruction tasks for a triangle and a cosine waveform were performed via an echo-state-network model with ridge regression, which demonstrated that nonlinear signal conversion in a GNP random array had potential for a physical reservoir device.