IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,393,834
Granted Patent B2
US 12,393,834 · App. 17/474,761 · Granted Aug 19, 2025

Optoelectronic synapse based on perovskite quantum dot-carbon nanotube for neuromorphic computing

Inventors: Jayan Thomas (Orlando, FL); Jinxin Li (Orlando, FL); Priyanka Dwivedi (Orlando, FL)
Assignee: University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc
G06N3/0675G06N3/049H10F10/169H10F30/282H10F71/00H10F77/1433H10K30/00H10K85/50
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,393,834
App. No.
17/474,761
Granted
Aug 19, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A photodetector device to act as an artificial photonic synapse includes a substrate and a perovskite quantum dot-multiwall carbon nanotube (PQD-MWCNT) hybrid material. The PQD-MWCNT hybrid material channel is disposed on the substrate between a first electrode and a second electrode and forms a PQD-MWCNT channel. The PDQs comprise a methylammonium lead bromide material. A method of operating the photodetector device as an artificial photonic synapse includes applying a presynaptic signal as stimuli as one or more light pulses on the PQD-MWCNT channel between the first electrode and the second electrode. A current across the PQD-MWCNT channel is measured to represent a postsynaptic signal.

Claims (44)

1. A method for operating a device having a light control photodetector device geometry to act as an artificial photonic synapse, the method comprising:

applying a presynaptic signal as stimuli as one or more light pulses or electrical voltage on a perovskite quantum dots grown on multi-wall carbon nanotubes (PQD-MWCNT) channel between a first terminal and a second terminal; and

measuring current across the PQD-MWCNT channel to represent a postsynaptic signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the presynaptic signal as stimuli as one or more light pulses on the PQD-MWCNT channel comprises:

applying one or more pulses at a first intensity while keeping a frequency of the one or more pulses at a given rate, and wherein the current measured across the PQD-MWCNT channel is a first current value.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein applying the presynaptic signal as stimuli as one or more light pulses on the PQD-MWCNT channel further comprises:

applying one or more light pulses at a second light intensity while keeping a frequency of the light pulses at the given rate, wherein the current measured across the PQD-MWCNT channel is a second current value,

wherein the second light intensity is one of the same as or greater than the first intensity and the second current value is higher than the first current value.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the presynaptic signal as stimuli as one or more light pulses on the PQD-MWCNT channel comprises:

applying one or more light pulses at a first frequency while keeping a light intensity of the light pulses at a given value and at a given wavelength of light,

wherein the current measured across the PQD-MWCNT channel is a first current value.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein applying the presynaptic signal as stimuli as one or more light pulses on the PQD-MWCNT channel further comprises:

applying one or more light pulses at a second frequency while keeping a light intensity of the light pulses at the given value and at the given wavelength of light,

wherein the current measured across the PQD-MWCNT channel is a second current value, and

wherein the second frequency is one of the same as or greater than the first frequency and the second current value is higher than the first current value.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the presynaptic signal as stimuli as one or more light pulses on the PQD-MWCNT channel comprises:

applying one or more light pulses at a given frequency while keeping an intensity of the light pulses at a given value and at a given wavelength for a period of time until the current measured across the PQD-MWCNT channel is at constant current value representing a state of long term plasticity (LTP);

applying one or more light pulses to a terminal of the PQD-MWCNT channel and measuring an increase in the current across the PQD-MWCNT channel representing a state of long-term potentiation (LTP); and

applying voltage pluses to the terminal of the PQD-MWCNT channel and measuring a decrease in the current across the PQD-MWCNT channel representing long-term depression (LTD).

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

using simplified spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) to perform unsupervised machine learning for pattern recognition.

8. A light control semiconductor device to act as an artificial photonic synapse comprising:

a substrate; and

a perovskite quantum dots (PQD) directly grown on multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) material disposed on the substrate and forming a PQD-MWCNT channel.

9. The light control semiconductor device of claim 8 , wherein the substrate is a silicon substrate.

10. The light control semiconductor device of claim 8 , wherein the PQDs comprise a methylammonium lead bromide material.

11. The light control semiconductor device of claim 8 , wherein the PQD-MWCNT channel is a layer of PQD-MWCNT formed on a silicon oxide layer disposed on top of the substrate.

12. The light control semiconductor device of claim 8 , further comprising:

a first electrode formed on a first side of the PQD-MWCNT channel; and

a second electrode formed on a second side of the PQD-MWCNT channel.

13. The light control semiconductor device of claim 8 , wherein the PQD-MWCNT channel is a source-drain channel.

14. The light control semiconductor device of claim 13 , further comprising:

a source electrode formed on a first side of the PQD-MWCNT source-drain channel; and

a drain electrode formed on a second side of the PQD-MWCNT source-drain channel.

15. A method for fabricating a light control photonic synapse device, the method comprising:

forming a perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) film on multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by depositing PQDs directly on MWCNTs to form a POD-MWCNT film on a substrate; and

forming a first electrode and a second electrode on the substrate, wherein the PQD-MWCNT film forms a PQD-MWCNT channel between the first electrode and the second electrode.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein forming the PQD-MWCNT film comprises:

combining a MAPbBr3 (methylammonium lead tribromide) PQD precursor solution with MWCNTs to form PQD precursor droplets; and

mixing the PQD precursor droplets to cause collisions with surfaces of the MWCNTs thereby initiating heterogeneous nucleation and subsequent growth of PQDs from a lattice of the MWCNTs.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein combining of the MAPbBr3 PQD precursor solution with MWCNTs further includes combining in a toluene solution.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the combining the MAPbBr3 PQD precursor solution with MWCNTs is in an approximate ratio of 17.3 mg MABr+73 mg PbBr2+5 mL DMF+300 μL butylamine+500 μL oleic acid.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein mixing the PQD precursor droplets to cause collisions with surfaces of the MWCNTs overcomes an activation free energy for stable nucleation and crystal growth due to a high Gibbs free surface energy of the surfaces of the MWCNTs.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the stable nucleation and crystal growth is primary at defect sites of surfaces of the MWCNTs.

Assignments (2)
CONFIRMATORY LICENSE Recorded Feb 6, 2025
From: UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
To: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Reel/Frame 070127/0222 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 16, 2021
From: THOMAS, JAYAN; LI, JINXIN; DWIVEDI, PRIYANKA
To: UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.
Reel/Frame 058403/0388 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 17019737 · Sep 14, 2020
Provisional Application 63077896 · Sep 14, 2020
Related Publication 20220083850A1 · Mar 17, 2022
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