Artificial Optoelectronic Synapses Based on Ferroelectric Field-Effect Enabled 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Memristive Transistors.

Neuromorphic visual sensory and memory systems, which could perceive, process and memorize optical information, represent core technology for artificial intelligence and robotics with autonomous navigation. An optoelectronic synapse with an elegant integration of biometric optical sensing and synaptic learning functions can be a fundamental element for the hardware-implementation of such systems. Here, we report a class of ferroelectric field-effect memristive transistors made of a two-dimensional WS2 semiconductor atop a ferroelectric PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 (PZT) thin film for optoelectronic synaptic devices. The WS2 channel exhibits voltage- and light-controllable memristive switching, dependent on the optically and electrically tunable ferroelectric domain patterns in the underlying PZT layer. These devices consequently show the emulation of optically-driven synaptic functionalities including both short- and long-term plasticity as well as the implementation of brain-like learning rules. Integration of these rich synaptic functionalities into one single artificial optoelectronic device could allow the development of future neuromorphic electronics capable of optical information sensing and learning.