Cryogenic neuromorphic circuits using gate-controlled negative differential resistance in silicon carbide

Cryogenic electronic circuits are crucial for interfacing and controlling scalable quantum computing platforms at millikelvin temperatures, yet face stringent thermal constraints demanding ultra-low power operation. Neuromorphic circuits, emulating the spiking behavior of biological neurons, offer solution for achieving energy-efficient electronics under these conditions. Here, we report the gate-controlled negative differential resistance (NDR) in silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). This NDR effect, arising from electron-donor impact ionization (EDII) in SiC MOSFET, achieves on/off current ratio over 107. Meanwhile, the behavior of NDR can be fully controlled by the gate voltage of the MOSFET. Leveraging this gate-controlled NDR, we demonstrate programmable cryogenic spiking neuromorphic circuits, including sensory, logic, and integrate-and-fire neurons, with functionality tuned by gate or drain voltages. The established manufacturability of SiC technology highlights the potential of this approach for scalable integration in cryogenic systems for sensing, computing, and quantum information. Efficient cryogenic electronics are essential for quantum computing at millikelvin temperatures. Yang et al. report a SiC-based negative differential resistance device with high on/off ratio at millikelvin and demonstrate programmable cryogenic neuromorphic circuits including sensory, logic and spiking neurons.