An Ultra-Low Power 1.2 pJ/Spike Fully CMOS Spiking Neuron and Its Application

Electronic neurons, such as integrate-and-fire models and memristor synapses, are key components of energy-efficient spiking neural network (SNN) systems. Current silicon-based models face challenges due to high transistor counts, large footprints, and excessive energy consumption. This brief presents a low-transistor count, energy-efficient neuron design. Our spiking signal-generating circuit consumes approximately 1.2 pJ per spike and uses a single capacitor as its only passive element, while occupying a layout area of 66.93 $\mathrm{\mu }$m × 36.12 $\mathrm{\mu }$m and operating on a 1 V power supply. We also highlight the driving capability and pattern recognition application of our proposed neuron model.