2,080 research outputs found
A CMOS Spiking Neuron for Dense Memristor-Synapse Connectivity for Brain-Inspired Computing
Neuromorphic systems that densely integrate CMOS spiking neurons and
nano-scale memristor synapses open a new avenue of brain-inspired computing.
Existing silicon neurons have molded neural biophysical dynamics but are
incompatible with memristor synapses, or used extra training circuitry thus
eliminating much of the density advantages gained by using memristors, or were
energy inefficient. Here we describe a novel CMOS spiking leaky
integrate-and-fire neuron circuit. Building on a reconfigurable architecture
with a single opamp, the described neuron accommodates a large number of
memristor synapses, and enables online spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP)
learning with optimized power consumption. Simulation results of an 180nm CMOS
design showed 97% power efficiency metric when realizing STDP learning in
10,000 memristor synapses with a nominal 1M{\Omega} memristance, and only
13{\mu}A current consumption when integrating input spikes. Therefore, the
described CMOS neuron contributes a generalized building block for large-scale
brain-inspired neuromorphic systems.Comment: This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in
International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) 201
Circuits for Analog Signal Processing Employing Unconventional Active Elements
DisertaÄnĂ prĂĄce se zabĂœvĂĄ zavĂĄdÄnĂm novĂœch struktur modernĂch aktivnĂch prvkĆŻ pracujĂcĂch v napÄĆ„ovĂ©m, proudovĂ©m a smĂĆĄenĂ©m reĆŸimu. FunkÄnost a chovĂĄnĂ tÄchto prvkĆŻ byly ovÄĆeny prostĆednictvĂm SPICE simulacĂ. V tĂ©to prĂĄci je zahrnuta Ćada simulacĂ, kterĂ© dokazujĂ pĆesnost a dobrĂ© vlastnosti tÄchto prvkĆŻ, pĆiÄemĆŸ velkĂœ dĆŻraz byl kladen na to, aby tyto prvky byly schopny pracovat pĆi nĂzkĂ©m napĂĄjecĂm napÄtĂ, jelikoĆŸ poptĂĄvka po pĆenosnĂœch elektronickĂœch zaĆĂzenĂch a implantabilnĂch zdravotnickĂœch pĆĂstrojĂch stĂĄle roste. Tyto pĆĂstroje jsou napĂĄjeny bateriemi a k tomu, aby byla prodlouĆŸena jejich ĆŸivotnost, trend navrhovĂĄnĂ analogovĂœch obvodĆŻ smÄĆuje k stĂĄle vÄtĆĄĂmu sniĆŸovĂĄnĂ spotĆeby a napĂĄjecĂho napÄtĂ. HlavnĂm pĆĂnosem tĂ©to prĂĄce je nĂĄvrh novĂœch CMOS struktur: CCII (Current Conveyor Second Generation) na zĂĄkladÄ BD (Bulk Driven), FG (Floating Gate) a QFG (Quasi Floating Gate); DVCC (Differential Voltage Current Conveyor) na zĂĄkladÄ FG, transkonduktor na zĂĄkladÄ novĂ© techniky BD_QFG (Bulk Driven_Quasi Floating Gate), CCCDBA (Current Controlled Current Differencing Buffered Amplifier) na zĂĄkladÄ GD (Gate Driven), VDBA (Voltage Differencing Buffered Amplifier) na zĂĄkladÄ GD a DBeTA (Differential_Input Buffered and External Transconductance Amplifier) na zĂĄkladÄ BD. DĂĄle je uvedeno nÄkolik zajĂmavĂœch aplikacĂ uĆŸĂvajĂcĂch vĂœĆĄe jmenovanĂ© prvky. ZĂskanĂ© vĂœsledky simulacĂ odpovĂdajĂ teoretickĂœm pĆedpokladĆŻm.The dissertation thesis deals with implementing new structures of modern active elements working in voltage_, current_, and mixed mode. The functionality and behavior of these elements have been verified by SPICE simulation. Sufficient numbers of simulated plots are included in this thesis to illustrate the precise and strong behavior of those elements. However, a big attention to implement active elements by utilizing LV LP (Low Voltage Low Power) techniques is given in this thesis. This attention came from the fact that growing demand of portable electronic equipments and implantable medical devices are pushing the development towards LV LP integrated circuits because of their influence on batteries lifetime. More specifically, the main contribution of this thesis is to implement new CMOS structures of: CCII (Current Conveyor Second Generation) based on BD (Bulk Driven), FG (Floating Gate) and QFG (Quasi Floating Gate); DVCC (Differential Voltage Current Conveyor) based on FG; Transconductor based on new technique of BD_QFG (Bulk Driven_Quasi Floating Gate); CCCDBA (Current Controlled Current Differencing Buffered Amplifier) based on conventional GD (Gate Driven); VDBA (Voltage Differencing Buffered Amplifier) based on GD. Moreover, defining new active element i.e. DBeTA (Differential_Input Buffered and External Transconductance Amplifier) based on BD is also one of the main contributions of this thesis. To confirm the workability and attractive properties of the proposed circuits many applications were exhibited. The given results agree well with the theoretical anticipation.
Homogeneous Spiking Neuromorphic System for Real-World Pattern Recognition
A neuromorphic chip that combines CMOS analog spiking neurons and memristive
synapses offers a promising solution to brain-inspired computing, as it can
provide massive neural network parallelism and density. Previous hybrid analog
CMOS-memristor approaches required extensive CMOS circuitry for training, and
thus eliminated most of the density advantages gained by the adoption of
memristor synapses. Further, they used different waveforms for pre and
post-synaptic spikes that added undesirable circuit overhead. Here we describe
a hardware architecture that can feature a large number of memristor synapses
to learn real-world patterns. We present a versatile CMOS neuron that combines
integrate-and-fire behavior, drives passive memristors and implements
competitive learning in a compact circuit module, and enables in-situ
plasticity in the memristor synapses. We demonstrate handwritten-digits
recognition using the proposed architecture using transistor-level circuit
simulations. As the described neuromorphic architecture is homogeneous, it
realizes a fundamental building block for large-scale energy-efficient
brain-inspired silicon chips that could lead to next-generation cognitive
computing.Comment: This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in IEEE
Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems, vol 5, no.
2, June 201
Power-efficient current-mode analog circuits for highly integrated ultra low power wireless transceivers
In this thesis, current-mode low-voltage and low-power techniques have been applied to implement novel analog circuits for zero-IF receiver backend design, focusing on amplification, filtering and detection stages. The structure of the thesis follows a bottom-up scheme: basic techniques at device level for low voltage low power operation are proposed in the first place, followed by novel circuit topologies at cell level, and finally the achievement of new designs at system level.
At device level the main contribution of this work is the employment of Floating-Gate (FG) and Quasi-Floating-Gate (QFG) transistors in order to reduce the power consumption. New current-mode basic topologies are proposed at cell level: current mirrors and current conveyors. Different topologies for low-power or high performance operation are shown, being these circuits the base for the system level designs.
At system level, novel current-mode amplification, filtering and detection stages using the former mentioned basic cells are proposed. The presented current-mode filter makes use of companding techniques to achieve high dynamic range and very low power consumption with for a very wide tuning range. The amplification stage avoids gain bandwidth product achieving a constant bandwidth for different gain configurations using a non-linear active feedback network, which also makes possible to tune the bandwidth. Finally, the proposed current zero-crossing detector represents a very power efficient mixed signal detector for phase modulations. All these designs contribute to the design of very low power compact Zero-IF wireless receivers.
The proposed circuits have been fabricated using a 0.5ÎŒm double-poly n-well CMOS technology, and the corresponding measurement results are provided and analyzed to validate their operation. On top of that, theoretical analysis has been done to fully explore the potential of the resulting circuits and systems in the scenario of low-power low-voltage applications.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en TecnologĂas de las Comunicaciones (RD 1393/2007)Komunikazioen Teknologietako Doktoretza Programa Ofiziala (ED 1393/2007
A neural probe with up to 966 electrodes and up to 384 configurable channels in 0.13 ÎŒm SOI CMOS
In vivo recording of neural action-potential and local-field-potential signals requires the use of high-resolution penetrating probes. Several international initiatives to better understand the brain are driving technology efforts towards maximizing the number of recording sites while minimizing the neural probe dimensions. We designed and fabricated (0.13-ÎŒm SOI Al CMOS) a 384-channel configurable neural probe for large-scale in vivo recording of neural signals. Up to 966 selectable active electrodes were integrated along an implantable shank (70 ÎŒm wide, 10 mm long, 20 ÎŒm thick), achieving a crosstalk of â64.4 dB. The probe base (5 Ă 9 mm2) implements dual-band recording and a 1
Performance enhancement in the desing of amplifier and amplifier-less circuits in modern CMOS technologies.
In the context of nowadays CMOS technology downscaling and the increasing demand of high performance electronics by industry and consumers, analog design has become a major challenge.
On the one hand, beyond others, amplifiers have traditionally been a key cell for many analog systems whose overall performance strongly depends on those of the amplifier. Consequently, still today, achieving high performance amplifiers is essential. On the other hand, due to the increasing difficulty in achieving high performance amplifiers in downscaled modern technologies, a different research line that replaces the amplifier by other more easily achievable cells appears: the so called amplifier-less techniques.
This thesis explores and contributes to both philosophies. Specifically, a lowvoltage differential input pair is proposed, with which three multistage amplifiers in the state of art are designed, analysed and tested. Moreover, a structure for the implementation of differential switched capacitor circuits, specially suitable for comparator-based circuits, that features lower distortion and less noise than the classical differential structures is proposed, an, as a proof of concept, implemented in a ÎÎŁ modulator
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