Silicon-Neuron Design: A Dynamical Systems Approach

• Published in: IEEE transactions on circuits and systems. I, Regular papers Vol. 58; no. 5; pp. 1034 - 1043
• Main Authors: Arthur, J V, Boahen, K A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01-05-2011; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bifurcation; Bifurcation analysis; Biological system modeling; Biomembranes; bursting; Computational modeling; dynamical systems; neuromorphic engineering; Neurons; Silicon; silicon neuron; Transistors
• ISSN: 1549-8328; 1558-0806
• DOI: 10.1109/TCSI.2010.2089556

We present an approach to design spiking silicon neurons based on dynamical systems theory. Dynamical systems theory aids in choosing the appropriate level of abstraction, prescribing a neuron model with the desired dynamics while maintaining simplicity. Further, we provide a procedure to transform the prescribed equations into subthreshold current-mode circuits. We present a circuit design example, a positive-feedback integrate-and-fire neuron, fabricated in 0.25-μm CMOS. We analyze and characterize the circuit, and demonstrate that it can be configured to exhibit desired behaviors, including spike-frequency adaptation and two forms of bursting.