A reconfigurable photosensitive split-floating-gate memory for neuromorphic computing and nonlinear activation.

Zhang, Zhi-Cheng; Li, Yuan; Yao, Jian; Chen, Zhaolong; Wang, Fu-Dong; Si, Shu-Han; Ding, Yue; Qi, Hui-Ling et al. · Nat Commun · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things calls for compact hardware platforms that integrate sensing, computing, and nonlinear processing within a unified architecture. However, most existing neuromorphic systems implement only partial functionalities and rely on heterogeneous device integration, limiting scalability and efficiency. Here, we show a high-speed, reconfigurable multi-modal split-floating-gate memory that monolithically integrates in-sensor computing, in-memory computing, and multiple nonlinear activation functions within a single device structure. By programming charges in spatially separated floating gates, the device enables non-volatile analog control of photoresponsivity and conductance, as well as electrically reconfigurable rectification to emulate ReLU and Sigmoid activations. We further demonstrate a fully hardware-implemented sensor-processor system based on the multi-modal split-floating-gate memory arrays that performs complete unsupervised and supervised learning tasks. This work establishes a compact, energy-efficient, and reconfigurable hardware foundation for scalable intelligent systems beyond conventional silicon architectures.