Effect of Synthesis Procedure on the Size of Ag/Ag2S Core-Shell Nanoparticles for Memristive Brain-Like Devices

For several decades, “von Neumann” computers have been downsized while their performances have been improved. However, the downsizing has reached its limit, imposed by the tunneling effect in the transistor, which also prevents energy consumption. To overcome such limitations, neuromorphic devices have been proposed, which exhibit high performances with significantly low power consumption. In this study, we realize a neuromorphic device based on Ag/Ag
₂
S nanoparticles, which have a switching behavior and allow the easy fabrication of a random network for reservoir computing. We start by fabricating particles with a desired particle size distribution. The amount of allylmercaptan (AM), which is a source of sulfur, was varied in the synthesis stage, and the obtained particles sizes were compared. By changing the concentration of AM, the sizes of Ag/Ag
₂
S core-shell nanoparticles were successfully controlled, which allow us to achieve reservoir computing by aggregation of the particles.