A carbon nanotube spiking cortical neuron with tunable refractory period and spiking duration

This paper describes an analog tunable carbon nanotube axon hillock that exhibits spiking with control over spiking frequency and spiking duration. Experiments with the axon hillock circuit embedded in a neuron circuit demonstrate spiking patterns similar to a biological fast-spiking neuron. The circuit design is biomimetic and changes in control voltages lead to changes in key spike parameters such as spike refractory period and spiking duration. The effect of change in output spiking frequency is tested with synapses that temporally summate, and their effect on neural firing is observed. The experiments are demonstrated with SPICE simulations using carbon nanotube transistor simulation models.