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Neuromorphic electronics based on copying and pasting the brain

Nature Electronics volume 4, pages 635–644 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Reverse engineering the brain by mimicking the structure and function of neuronal networks on a silicon integrated circuit was the original goal of neuromorphic engineering, but remains a distant prospect. The focus of neuromorphic engineering has thus been relaxed from rigorous brain mimicry to designs inspired by qualitative features of the brain, including event-driven signalling and in-memory information processing. Here we examine current approaches to neuromorphic engineering and provide a vision that returns neuromorphic electronics to its original goal of reverse engineering the brain. The essence of this vision is to ‘copy’ the functional synaptic connectivity map of a mammalian neuronal network using advanced neuroscience tools and then ‘paste’ this map onto a high-density three-dimensional network of solid-state memories. Our copy-and-paste approach could potentially lead to silicon integrated circuits that better approximate computing traits of the brain, including low power, facile learning, adaptation, and even autonomy and cognition.

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Fig. 1: Contemporary neuromorphic research.
Fig. 2: Copying the NNN.
Fig. 3: Pasting.
Fig. 4: Neuromorphic scaling using 3D integration and packaging technology.

TechInsights (Ray Fontaine, http://rfontaine@techinsights.com; e (right))

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. J. Kim, S. Jung, H. Lee and H. Kim of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, J. Abbott, T. Ye, K. Krenek, R. Gertner, S. Ban, Y. Kim, L. Qin, W. Wu, R. Xu, H. S. Jung and J. Wang of Harvard University and H. J. Baek (Executive Vice President), J. Song (Executive Vice President), K. Choi (Senior Vice President), S. Yoon (Vice President), T. Hwang, J. Lim, D. Kwon, Y. Kim and J. Kim of Samsung Electronics for discussions, advice and/or contributions to materials used here from original research articles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Donhee Ham

  2. Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Samsung Electronics, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Donhee Ham & Sungwoo Hwang

  3. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Hongkun Park

  4. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Hongkun Park

  5. Samsung Electronics, Hwaseong, Republic of Korea

    Sungwoo Hwang & Kinam Kim

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  1. Donhee Ham
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D.H., H.P., S.H. and K.K. conceived this Perspective. D.H., H.P., S.H. and K.K. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Donhee Ham, Hongkun Park, Sungwoo Hwang or Kinam Kim.

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Peer review information Nature Electronics thanks Yoeri van de Burgt and Huaqiang Wu for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Ham, D., Park, H., Hwang, S. et al. Neuromorphic electronics based on copying and pasting the brain. Nat Electron 4, 635–644 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00646-1

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