Researchers Discover a Material With Brain-Like Learning Capabilities



Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo, a Ph.D. candidate at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Power and Wide-band-gap Electronics Research Laboratory (POWERlab), made an unexpected discovery while doing research on phase transitions in vanadium dioxide (VO2). Around ambient temperature, VO2 has an insulating phase and, at 68 °C, undergoes a rapid transition from an insulator to a metal, changing its lattice structure.

Samizadeh Nikoo asserts that VO2 has a volatile memory because "it immediately returns to the insulating state after the excitation is removed." For his thesis, he set out to determine how long it takes for VO2 to transition between states. His research, however, took an unexpected turn when, after taking hundreds of measurements, he identified a memory effect in the composition of the material.

Samizadeh Nikoo used an electric current to treat VO2 samples in his research. According to him, "the current traveled through the substance, following a path, until it emerged on the other side." As the sample heated up, the VO2 underwent a state shift. The material went back to its initial state after the current was gone. After giving the material a second current pulse, Samizadeh Nikoo found that the history of the material had a significant impact on how long it took for the material to change state.

Professor Elison Matioli, who is in charge of the POWERlab, said that the VO2 appeared to "remember" the previous phase transition and anticipate the following. "This type of memory effect is something we weren't expecting to find, and it has nothing to do with electronic states, but rather with the physical makeup of the substance. The fact that no other material behaves in this way is a fresh discovery.

According to the study's findings, VO2 can retain memories of its most recent external stimuli for up to three hours. Although Matioli admits that the necessary tools aren't yet available, the memory effect may last for several days.

The discovery produced by the research team is crucial since the memory effect found is a natural characteristic of the subject matter itself. Engineers use memory to perform a variety of calculations, and there is a significant need for materials that may accelerate, miniaturize, and increase the capacity of calculations. All three of these criteria are met by VO2. It also sets it apart from conventional materials that store data as binary information based on the manipulation of electrical states thanks to its ongoing structural memory.

Numerous measurements were taken by the researchers before coming to their conclusions. By using the novel technique on various materials at other facilities throughout the world, they were able to corroborate their findings. The fact that VO2 switches behave exactly like neurons in this discovery perfectly mimics what occurs in the brain.

Reference: Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo, Reza Soleimanzadeh, Anna Krammer, Guilherme Migliato Marega, Yunkyu Park, Junwoo Son, Andreas Schueler, Andras Kis, Philip J. W. Moll, and Elison Matioli, "Electrical control of glass-like dynamics in vanadium dioxide for data storage and processing," Nature Electronics, 22 August 2022.

By ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE 

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