Valence Change Memristive Devices for Bio-Inspired Information Pathways

Memristive devices have attracted considerable attention in the electronic device community due to their inherent memory effect, which allows them to mimic the function of biological synapses. As such, they are a key building block for realizing artificial neural computing schemes in hardware, so-called neuromorphic systems. However, there are various neuromorphic architectures with different requirements for memristive devices, requiring optimization of electrical properties and materials as well as the technological framework for each specific application.<br/><br/>This talk will discuss the challenges and prospects of memristive devices for neuromorphic computing in general and several selected examples. Valence-change-based memristive devices are presented, and it will be discussed how their properties can be tailored by systematic design variations for applications in neuromorphic computing architectures. Furthermore, it is shown how the resistance change of memristive devices affects the dynamics of networks and how network dynamics influence network connectivity. Important requirements for memristive devices will be discussed, and it will be shown how a new way of information processing beyond current approaches can open a new bio-inspired pathway toward the construction of cognitive electronics.<br/><br/>This work was partially funded by the Carl-Zeiss Foundation via the Project MemWerk and the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Collaborative Research Centre CRC 1461 "Neurotronics – Bio-Inspired Information Pathway".