Université de Montréal

Published purpose

To emulate neural networks, it is essential to reproduce the functions of biological synapses in physical devices that could be fabricated on a larger scale. artificial synapses will be developed using printable materials made of carbon nanotubes and photoactive dyes. The synapses will consist of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as the active channel material and a layer sensitive to light to impart synaptic weight control and potentiation / depression ability through optical and electrical gating. This structure is called an optically-gated carbon nanotube network field-effect transistor (OG-CNN-FET). The main task will be to develop the photoactive materials that will be incorporated into OG-CNN-FETs and thus to create a library of various photoactive materials inks. The optical properties of the SWCNT-photoactive materials system will be tested to optimizie the synapses and to better understand their physical interaction.