21世紀のエレクトロニクスを切り拓く新しいデバイスプロセスの開発 : 撮像デバイス技術および関連技術分野 : 情報入力

抄録

Logic circuit applications of a new functional device called Neuron MOS Transistor (abbreviated as neuMOS or ννMOS) are presented. A νMOS is a multiple-input MOS transistor having a very simple device structure characterized by the linear-weighted sum and threshold operations performed at a single transistor level. Due to its functional similarity to biological neurons, it bares the name. We have found that any Boolean function can be realized by a two-stage configuration of νMOS inverters. In addition, the variable threshold nature of the device allows us to build real-time reconfigurable logic circuits (no floating gate charging effect is involved in varying the threshold). Based on the principle, we have developed Soft-Hardware Logic Circuits and Real-Time Rule-Variable Data Matching Circuits. A winner-take-all circuit which finds the largest signal by hardware parallel processing has been also developed. The circuit is applied to building an associative memory which is different from Hopfield network in both principle and operation. Application to advanced image processing by the combination with the BASIS image sensor is also discussed.