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Research Article | Open Access

All-in-one iontronic device with memory, processing and power capabilities towards dust-sized computers

Dong Wang^¹, Mingyang Wang^¹, Zhihan Zhang^¹, Jian Wang^¹, Ziye Zhou^¹, Peter To Lai^², Xiaodong Huang^¹

()

1School of Integrated Circuits, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

2Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China

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An all-in-one dual-ion (Li⁺ and O²⁻) device that fuses memory, processing and on-chip power components is reported for autonomous and monolithically-integrated dust-sized computers. By electrically modulating the ion species and their amounts participating in the electrochemical processes, the complete memristor modes (including analog, volatile digital and nonvolatile digital types) and on-chip power modes can be created on demand in this single device.

Abstract

Fusion of memory, processing and power components enables creating autonomous and monolithically-integrated dust-sized computers for ubiquitous computing. However, this effort is limited by contradictory ion dynamics and performance variability of each component. Here we report an all-in-one dual-ion device that integrates memory, processing and power functionalities. By electrically modulating ion species (Li⁺ and O²⁻) and amounts participating in the electrochemistry, the complete memristor modes (including analog, volatile digital and nonvolatile digital types) and on-chip power modes are created on demand in this device. Because of their distinct properties, the roles of Li⁺ and O²⁻ are easily distinguished and modulated by electrical operation for meeting the customized demand of each mode. Moreover, the homogeneous migration of Li⁺ ensures high uniformity of the Li⁺-based modes. The oxygen vacancy-based conductive filaments are finely defined by mechanical deformation through electrically controlling ion intercalation/deintercalation, thus guaranteeing high uniformity of the O²⁻-based modes. Both neuromorphic and logic in-memory computing are well demonstrated based on this all-in-one device.

Keywords

all-in-one fusion memristor on-chip power ion dynamics performance uniformity

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Volume 18 Issue 1,
January 2025

Article number: 94907043

DOI: 10.26599/NR.2025.94907043

Cite this article:

Wang D, Wang M, Zhang Z, et al. All-in-one iontronic device with memory, processing and power capabilities towards dust-sized computers. Nano Research, 2025, 18(1): 94907043. https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2025.94907043

Topics:

Figure 1All-in-one iontronic device. (a) All-in-one fusion of the memory, processing and power components is quite desirable for constructing autonomous and monolithically-integrated dust-sized computers. (b) Schematic diagram, cross-sectional TEM and EDX mapping images of this all-in-one device (left). This all-in-one device acts as a stem cell that can be electrically tuned to the complete memristor modes and on-chip power modes (right).
Figure 2Modulation and working principles of this all-in-one iontronic device. (a) Mode modulation through electrical operation. (b) Dominant ion species and their amounts under each mode. (c) Under the analog memristor mode. (d) Under the on-chip power mode. (e) Under the volatile digital memristor mode. (f) Under the nonvolatile digital memristor mode.
Figure 3Performance characterizations of this all-in-one iontronic device under each mode. (a) I–V curves under consecutive negative and positive DC voltage sweeps for the device under the analog memristor mode. (b) Conductance modulation by voltage pulses with different magnitudes for the device under the analog memristor mode. (c) Cycle-to-cycle variation of conductance modulation for the device under the analog memristor mode. (d) Program process used for tuning the device to the on-chip power mode. (e) Cyclic-voltammetry curves at different sweep rates for the device under the on-chip power mode. (f) Galvanostatic charge–discharge curves obtained from two devices connected in series and parallel, respectively. (g) Program process used for tuning the device to the volatile digital memristor mode. (h) Volatile digital resistive switching characteristics under various compliant currents for the device under the volatile digital memristor mode. (i) I–V curves for 100 consecutive DC voltage sweep cycles for the device under the volatile digital memristor mode. (j) Program process used for tuning the device to the nonvolatile digital memristor mode. (k) I–V curves for 100 consecutive DC voltage sweep cycles for the device under the nonvolatile digital memristor mode. (l) Retention characteristics of the device under the nonvolatile digital memristor mode.
Figure 4SIMS analysis for the all-in-one iontronic device under different modes. (a) 3D morphologies of each layer for the device under the analog memristor mode based on ToF-SIMS. (b) 3D morphologies of each layer for the device under the on-chip power mode based on ToF-SIMS. (c) 3D morphologies of each layer for the device under the volatile digital memristor mode based on ToF-SIMS. (d) 3D maps of secondary ion species (including Li⁻, OH⁻, LiO⁻, CO₃⁻and CO₃Li⁻) for the device under the analog memristor mode based on ToF-SIMS. (e) 3D maps of secondary ion species (including Li⁻, OH⁻, LiO⁻, CO₃⁻and CO₃Li⁻) for the device under the on-chip power mode based on ToF-SIMS. (f) 3D maps of secondary ion species (including Li⁻, OH⁻, LiO⁻, CO₃⁻and CO₃Li⁻) for the device under the volatile digital memristor mode based on ToF-SIMS. Note that these ion species represent the products in the reactions ( Eqs. (1) – (3) ). (g) 2D distribution of the lithium elements along the depth profiles for the device under the analog memristor mode. (h) 2D distribution of the lithium elements along the depth profiles for the device under the on-chip power mode. (i) 2D distribution of the oxygen elements along the depth profiles for the device under the volatile digital memristor mode.

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