Experimental demonstration of coupled differential oscillator networks for versatile applications

Abstract

Oscillatory neural networks (ONNs) exhibit a high potential for energy-efficient computing. In ONNs, neurons are implemented with oscillators and synapses with resistive and/or capacitive coupling between pairs of oscillators. Computing is carried out on the basis of the rich, complex, non-linear synchronization dynamics of a system of coupled oscillators. The exploited synchronization phenomena in ONNs are an example of fully parallel collective computing. A fast system’s convergence to stable states, which correspond to the desired processed information, enables an energy-efficient solution if small area and low-power oscillators are used, specifically when they are built on the basis of the hysteresis exhibited by phase-transition materials such as VO2. In recent years, there have been numerous studies on ONNs using VO2. Most of them report simulation results. Although in some cases experimental results are also shown, they do not implement the design techniques that other works on electrical simulations report that allow to improve the behavior of the ONNs. Experimental validation of these approaches is necessary. Therefore, in this study, we describe an ONN realized in a commercial CMOS technology in which the oscillators are built using a circuit that we have developed to emulate the VO2 device. The purpose is to be able to study in-depth the synchronization dynamics of relaxation oscillators similar to those that can be performed with VO2 devices. The fabricated circuit is very flexible. It allows programming the synapses to implement different ONNs, calibrating the frequency of the oscillators, or controlling their initialization. It uses differential oscillators and resistive synapses, equivalent to the use of memristors. In this article, the designed and fabricated circuits are described in detail, and experimental results are shown. Specifically, its satisfactory operation as an associative memory is demonstrated. The experiments carried out allow us to conclude that the ONN must be operated according to the type of computational task to be solved, and guidelines are extracted in this regard.