In-Plane Polarization-Triggered WS₂-Ferroelectric Heterostructured Synaptic Devices

To date, various kinds of memristors have been proposed as artificial neurons and synapses for neuromorphic computing to overcome the so-called von Neumann bottleneck in conventional computing architectures. However, related working principles are mostly ascribed to randomly distributed conductive filaments or traps, which usually lead to high stochasticity and poor uniformity. In this work, a heterostructure with a two-dimensional WS₂ monolayer and a ferroelectric PZT film were demonstrated for memristors and artificial synapses, triggered by in-plane ferroelectric polarization. It is noted that the properties of the WS₂/PZT heterostructures, including photoluminescence (PL) and conductivity, can be effectively tuned by in-plane polarization. In contrast to conventional memristors, the resistance switch of our memristors relies on the dynamic regulation of Schottky barriers at the WS₂/metal contacts by ferroelectric polarization. PL characterizations verified the existence of lateral fields inside the WS₂ originating from the polarization of the PZT. In particular, such memristors can emulate neuromorphic functions, including threshold-driven spiking, excitatory postsynaptic current, paired-pulse promotion (PPF), and so on. The results indicate that the WS₂/PZT heterostructures with in-plane polarization are promising for the hardware implementation of artificial neural networks.