1980 Preface * 1999 Preface * 1999 Acknowledgements * Introduction * 1 Circular Logic * 2 Phase Singularities (Screwy Results of Circular Logic) * 3 The Rules of the Ring * 4 Ring Populations * 5 Getting Off the Ring * 6 Attracting Cycles and Isochrons * 7 Measuring the Trajectories of a Circadian Clock * 8 Populations of Attractor Cycle Oscillators * 9 Excitable Kinetics and Excitable Media * 10 The Varieties of Phaseless Experience: In Which the Geometrical Orderliness of Rhythmic Organization Breaks Down in Diverse Ways * 11 The Firefly Machine 12 Energy Metabolism in Cells * 13 The Malonic Acid Reagent ('Sodium Geometrate') * 14 Electrical Rhythmicity and Excitability in Cell Membranes * 15 The Aggregation of Slime Mold Amoebae * 16 Numerical Organizing Centers * 17 Electrical Singular Filaments in the Heart Wall * 18 Pattern Formation in the Fungi * 19 Circadian Rhythms in General * 20 The Circadian Clocks of Insect Eclosion * 21 The Flower of Kalanchoe * 22 The Cell Mitotic Cycle * 23 The Female Cycle * References * Index of Names * Index of Subjects

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/596B270197FE27DE5FABB598B6210622/S0025557200150892a.pdf/div-class-title-span-class-italic-the-geometry-of-biological-time-span-by-a-t-winfree-pp-544-dm68-corrected-second-printing-1990-isbn-3-540-52528-9-springer-div.pdf

The geometry of biological time , by A. T. Winfree. Pp 544. DM68. Corrected Second Printing 1990. ISBN 3-540-52528-9 (Springer)

https://users.dimi.uniud.it/~antonio.dangelo/Robotica/2012/helper/leggedRobot/Ijspeert08NN.pdf

2008 Special Issue: Central pattern generators for locomotion control in animals and robots: A review

The goal of this paper is to review in brief the basic physics of single-election devices, as well as their-current and prospective applications. These devices based on the controllable transfer of single electrons between small conducting "islands", have already enabled several important scientific experiments. Several other applications of analog single-election devices in unique scientific instrumentation and metrology seem quite feasible. On the other hand, the prospect of silicon transistors being replaced by single-electron devices in integrated digital circuits faces tough challenges and remains uncertain. Nevertheless, even if this replacement does not happen, single electronics will continue to play an important role by shedding light on the fundamental size limitations of new electronic devices. Moreover, recent research in this field has generated some by-product ideas which may revolutionize random-access-memory and digital-data-storage technologies.

Single-electron devices and their applications

The electronic properties of inorganic devices such as memristors can be used to simulate neurological behaviour. In particular, ionic and electronic effects in a silver sulphide device are now shown to mimic short- and long-term synaptic functions. Memory is believed to occur in the human brain as a result of two types of synaptic plasticity: short-term plasticity (STP) and long-term potentiation (LTP; refs 1, 2, 3, 4). In neuromorphic engineering5,6, emulation of known neural behaviour has proven to be difficult to implement in software because of the highly complex interconnected nature of thought processes. Here we report the discovery of a Ag2S inorganic synapse, which emulates the synaptic functions of both STP and LTP characteristics through the use of input pulse repetition time. The structure known as an atomic switch7,8, operating at critical voltages, stores information as STP with a spontaneous decay of conductance level in response to intermittent input stimuli, whereas frequent stimulation results in a transition to LTP. The Ag2S inorganic synapse has interesting characteristics with analogies to an individual biological synapse, and achieves dynamic memorization in a single device without the need of external preprogramming. A psychological model related to the process of memorizing and forgetting is also demonstrated using the inorganic synapses. Our Ag2S element indicates a breakthrough in mimicking synaptic behaviour essential for the further creation of artificial neural systems that emulate characteristics of human memory.

/pdf/short-term-plasticity-and-long-term-potentiation-mimicked-in-3c6onjbc0r.pdf

Short-term plasticity and long-term potentiation mimicked in single inorganic synapses

Computational geometry

Neuromorphic computing based on single-electron circuit technology is gaining prominence because of its massively increased computational efficiency and the increasing relevance of computer technology and nanotechnology [Likharev K, Mayr A, Muckra I, Turel O. CrossNets: High-performance neuromorphic architectures for CMOL circuits. Molec Electron III: Ann NY Acad Sci 1006;2003:146–63; Oya T, Schmid A, Asai T, Leblebici Y, Amemiya Y. On the fault tolerance of a clustered single-electron neural network for differential enhancement. IEICE Electron Expr 2;2005:76–80]. The maximum impact of these technologies will be strongly felt when single-electron circuits based on fault- and noise-tolerant neural structures can operate at room temperature. In this paper, inspired by stochastic resonance (SR) in an ensemble of spiking neurons [Collins JJ, Chow CC, Imhoff TT. Stochastic resonance without tuning. Nature 1995;376:236–8], we propose our design of a basic single-electron neural component and report how we examined its statistical results on a network.

/pdf/stochastic-resonance-in-an-ensemble-of-single-electron-1krwvjixm2.pdf

Stochastic Resonance in an Ensemble of Single-Electron Neuromorphic Devices and its Application to Competitive Neural Networks

A low-power temperature-sensing oscillator was developed using a 0.35- μ m standard CMOS process. This oscillator generates a clock pulse whose frequency is proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT frequency). It consists of a PTAT current generator controlled with an external reference clock and a frequency-locked loop biased with an external reference voltage. The PTAT current generator makes use of the exponential current characteristic of MOSFETs operated in the subthreshold region. Theoretical analyses and experimental results showed that the circuit can be used as a temperature sensor with a low-power consumption of 10  μ W or less. The temperature coefficient of the output frequency was insensitive to variation in device parameters, so the sensor circuit can be used only with one-point calibration. Its temperature-sensing error was from − 1.8 to + 1 ° C in a temperature range of 10–80  ° C. This temperature sensor would be suitable for use in subthreshold-operated, power-aware LSIs.

/pdf/low-power-temperature-to-frequency-converter-consisting-of-47e5scjnef.pdf

Low-power temperature-to-frequency converter consisting of subthreshold CMOS circuits for integrated smart temperature sensors

A temperature- and supply-independent clock generator has been developed using 0.35-µm CMOS technology. This generator is based on a simple frequency-locked loop technique and can be implemented monolithically without using LC resonant circuits, quartz resonators, and MEMS oscillators. A sample device that is tunable over a wide frequency range of 2–100 MHz was designed and fabricated. It showed a temperature coefficient of 90 ppm/°C, a line regulation of 4%/V, and a power dissipation of 180 µW, at a frequency of 30 MHz. The process sensitivity (σ/μ) was 2.7%. This clock generator can be used as an on-chip reference clock circuit.

/pdf/a-30-mhz-90-ppm-c-fully-integrated-clock-reference-generator-k22wy079cl.pdf

A 30-MHz, 90-ppm/°C fully-integrated clock reference generator with frequency-locked loop

This paper describes a majority-logic gate device that will be useful in developing single-electron integrated circuits. The gate device consists of two identical single-electron boxes combined to form a balanced pair. It accepts three inputs and produces a majority-logic output by using imbalances caused by the input signals; it produces a 1 output if two or three inputs are 1, and a 0 output if two or three inputs are 0. We combine these gate devices into two subsystems, a shift register and an adder, and demonstrate their operation by computer simulation. We also propose a method of fabricating the unit element of the gate device, a minute dot with four coupling arms. We demonstrate by experiments that it is possible to arrange these unit elements on a GaAs substrate, in a self-organizing manner, by means of a process technology that is based on selective-area metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy.

A majority-logic nanodevice using a balanced pair of single-electron boxes.

The inherent stochastic character of single-electron tunneling can be effectively utilized for creating novel electronic circuits having high-level functions. As a sample application, we present a stochastic-response circuit for implementing Boltzmann machine neurons. The circuit consists of a single-electron circuit operating under unstable conditions. It can produce an output of a random 1–0 bit stream with the probability for an output of 1 controlled by an input signal—a task that is difficult for conventional circuits using ordinary electronic devices.

/pdf/boltzmann-machine-neuron-circuit-using-single-electron-19xcugz7mu.pdf

Yoshihito Amemiya

Papers

Stochastic Resonance in an Ensemble of Single-Electron Neuromorphic Devices and its Application to Competitive Neural Networks

Low-power temperature-to-frequency converter consisting of subthreshold CMOS circuits for integrated smart temperature sensors

A 30-MHz, 90-ppm/°C fully-integrated clock reference generator with frequency-locked loop

A majority-logic nanodevice using a balanced pair of single-electron boxes.

Boltzmann machine neuron circuit using single-electron tunneling