A reconfigurable photosensitive split-floating-gate memory for neuromorphic computing and nonlinear activation

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Authors: Zhi-Cheng Zhang, Yuan Li, Jian Yao, Zhaolong Chen, Fudong Wang, Shuhan Si, Yue Ding, Hui-Ling Qi, Tong-Bu Lu, Lixing Kang, Zhi-Bo Liu, Jianguo Tian
+1 more Xu-Dong Chen
Cited by: 8
References: 76

Abstract

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things calls for compact hardware platforms that integrate sensing, computing, and nonlinear processing within a unified architecture. However, most existing neuromorphic systems implement only partial functionalities and rely on heterogeneous device integration, limiting scalability and efficiency. Here, we show a high-speed, reconfigurable multi-modal split-floating-gate memory that monolithically integrates in-sensor computing, in-memory computing, and multiple nonlinear activation functions within a single device structure. By programming charges in spatially separated floating gates, the device enables non-volatile analog control of photoresponsivity and conductance, as well as electrically reconfigurable rectification to emulate ReLU and Sigmoid activations. We further demonstrate a fully hardware-implemented sensor-processor system based on the multi-modal split-floating-gate memory arrays that performs complete unsupervised and supervised learning tasks. This work establishes a compact, energy-efficient, and reconfigurable hardware foundation for scalable intelligent systems beyond conventional silicon architectures.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Memory and Neural Computing Neural Networks and Reservoir Computing Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices

Publication details

Journal / source
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
17
Issue
1
Pages
1697–1697
Publication date
14 January 2026
Language
EN