On-chip optical communication to small footprint nanowire neurons

Summary, in English

Photonics-based approaches to neuromorphic hardware offer advantages in speed and connectivity but often suffer from large device footprints.[1] Here, we present an ultra-compact artificial neuron built from semiconductor nanowires. A scanning electron micrograph of the nanowire device is presented in Figure 1a. Inside the dashed box, we show the neuron built from three III-V nanowires - two InP pin-doped photodiodes and one InAs-based wire in field-effect transistor (FET) geometry. The two top InP nanowires outside the box are also pindoped and operated as light emitting diodes (LEDs) to generate on-chip light broadcasting (Figure 1b).

• Author: Joachim E. Sestoft; Thomas K. Jensen; Vidar Flodgren; Abhijit Das; Rasmus D. Schlosser; David Alcer; Thomas Kanne; Magnus Borgström; Anders Mikkelsen; Jesper Nygård
• Department/s: LTH Profile Area: Photon Science and Technology; LU Profile Area: Light and Materials; Synchrotron Radiation Research; LTH Profile Area: Nanoscience and Semiconductor Technology; NanoLund: Centre for Nanoscience; ACT: Advanced Chip Technology; Solid State Physics
• Publishing year: 2025
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: 2025 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe and European Quantum Electronics Conference, CLEO/Europe-EQEC 2025
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CLEO/EUROPE-EQEC65582.2025.11110137
• Document type: Conference paper
• Publisher: IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
• Topic: Nanotechnology for Electronic Applications
• Conference name: 2025 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe and European Quantum Electronics Conference, CLEO/Europe-EQEC 2025
• Conference date: 2025-06-23 - 2025-06-27
• Conference place: Munich, Germany
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISBN: 9798331512521