Beyond von‐Neumann Computing with Nanoscale Phase‐Change Memory Devices

Abstract Historically, the application of phase‐change materials and devices has been limited to the provision of non‐volatile memories. Recently, however, the potential has been demonstrated for using phase‐change devices as the basis for new forms of brain‐like computing, by exploiting their multilevel resistance capability to provide electronic mimics of biological synapses. Here, a different and previously under‐explored property that is also intrinsic to phase‐change materials and devices, namely accumulation, is exploited to demonstrate that nanometer‐scale electronic phase‐change devices can also provide a powerful form of arithmetic computing. Complicated arithmetic operations are carried out, including parallel factorization and fractional division, using simple nanoscale phase‐change cells that process and store data simultaneously and at the same physical location, promising a most efficient and effective means for implementing beyond von‐Neumann computing. This same accumulation property can be used to provide a particularly simple form phase‐change integrate‐and‐fire “neuron”, which, by combining both phase‐change synapse and neuron electronic mimics, potentially opens up a route to the realization of all‐phase‐change neuromorphic processing.