A Silicon Axon

Abstract

We present a silicon model of an axon which shows promise as a building block for pulse-based neural computations involving correlations of pulses across both space and time. The circuit shares a number of features with its biological counterpart including an excitation threshold, a brief refractory period after pulse completion, pulse amplitude restoration, and pulse width restoration. We provide a simple explanation of circuit operation and present data from a chip fabricated in a standard 2μm CMOS process through the MOS Implementation Service (MOSIS). We emphasize the necessity of the restoration of the width of the pulse in time for stable propagation in axons.