NOMFET
Researchers in France claim to have made the first transistor that mimics connections in the human brain. Many believe that this could lead to new brain-based computers and help connect artificial structures to biological tissue.
This device which serves as an artificial version of a synapse is based on an organic semiconductor transistor made of pentacene, an insulation layer and gold nanoparticles. The resulting device is called a nanoparticle organic memory field-effect transistor or "NOMFET".
“In the NOMFET, the pre-synaptic signal is simply the pulse voltage applied to the device and the output signal is the drain current. The holes – the charge carriers in the p-type organic semiconductor employed – are trapped in the nanoparticles and act like the neurotransmitters. A certain number of holes are trapped for each incoming spike voltage and in the absence of pulses, the holes escape in a matter of seconds.”, explains Dominique Vuillaume of the University of Lille.
Click here to read more about NOMFET, Organic Transistor.
