London, Jan 14 (PTI) Scientists, including one of Indianorigin, have designed printable, organic thin films for"neuromorphic" computers inspired by the human brain, whichwill help power Internet of Things.
Internet of Things (IoT) need components and chips thatcan handle huge quantities of data.
In 2020, there will already be 50 billion industrialinternet sensors in place all around us. A single autonomousdevice - a smart watch, a cleaning robot, or a driverless car- can produce gigabytes of data each day, whereas an airbusmay have over 10,000 sensors in one wing alone.
Current transistors in computer chips must beminiaturised to the size of only few nanometres, and analysingand storing unprecedented amounts of data will require hugeamounts of energy.
Sayani Majumdar, from the Aalto University in Finland,along with her colleagues, designed and fabricated the basicbuilding blocks of "neuromorphic" computers inspired by thehuman brain.
"The technology and design of neuromorphic computing isadvancing more rapidly than its rival revolution, quantumcomputing," said Majumdar.
"The key is to achieve the extreme energy-efficiency of abiological brain and mimic the way neural networks processinformation through electric impulses," she said.
In a study published in the journal Advanced FunctionalMaterials, researchers showed how they have fabricated a newbreed of 'ferroelectric tunnel junctions', that is, few-nanometre-thick ferroelectric thin films sandwiched betweentwo electrodes.
They have abilities beyond existing technologies and bodewell for energy-efficient and stable neuromorphic computing.
The junctions work in low voltages of less than fivevolts and with a variety of electrode materials - includingsilicon used in chips in most of our electronics.
They also can retain data for more than 10 years withoutpower and be manufactured in normal conditions.
"Our junctions are made out of organic hydro-carbonmaterials and they would reduce the amount of toxic heavymetal waste in electronics," said Majumdar.
"We can also make thousands of junctions a day in roomtemperature without them suffering from the water or oxygen inthe air," she said.
"What we are striving for now, is to integrate millionsof our tunnel junction memristors into a network on a onesquare centimetre area," she added.
"We can expect to pack so many in such a small spacebecause we have now achieved a record-high difference in thecurrent between on and off-states in the junctions and thatprovides functional stability," Majumdar said.
"The memristors could then perform complex tasks likeimage and pattern recognition and make decisionsautonomously," she said. PTI MHNMHN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.