【Device Papers】Polycrystalline β-Ga₂O₃ Used in Neuromorphic Information Storage: Trapping Centers for Carriers Leads to Persistent Photoconductive Effect

      Researchers from the Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications have published a dissertation titled "Polycrystalline β-Ga₂O₃ Used in Neuromorphic Information Storage: Trapping Centers for Carriers Leads to Persistent Photoconductive Effect" in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

Abstract

      Neuromorphic visual sensors (NVSs) address the bottleneck of traditional devices with synaptic behaviors that help solve the challenges of large power consumption and slow processing speeds. The carrier trapping layer plays an important role in the synaptic behavior of NVSs. In this work, we propose a polycrystalline β-Ga₂O₃ as both photosensitive and carrier trapping material to simplify the multilayer structure of NVSs. The persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effect of polycrystalline β-Ga₂O₃ photosensor has been enhanced by utilizing grain boundaries. The trapping effect is thoroughly investigated by characterization and electrical tests. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the β-Ga₂O₃ device can mimic biological neuromorphic behavior with a variety of basic synaptic behaviors. Finally, the device has been proven to be able to store optical images for more than 520 s and ASCII messages for more than 300 s. It broadens the road for the development of Ga₂O₃ in neuromorphic memory devices.

DOI：

https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2025.3613476