Harnessing the Second-Order Metal−Insulator Transition for Neuromorphic Computing

Hofer, Juan Andres; Alspaugh, David J.; Basaran, Ali C.; Wang, Tianxing Damir; Schuman, Catherine; Rozenberg, Marcelo; Schuller, Ivan K.

doi:10.1021/acsaelm.6c00427

Title: Harnessing the Second-Order Metal−Insulator Transition for Neuromorphic Computing

Journal Article · Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 UTC 2026 · ACS Applied Electronic Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.6c00427 · OSTI ID:3376429

^[1]; Alspaugh, David J. ^[1];

^[2];

^[3]; Schuman, Catherine ^[4]; Rozenberg, Marcelo ^[5];

^[3]

University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
University of California, San Diego, CA (United States); University of California−San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
University of California, San Diego, CA (United States); Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Paris (France)

Vanadium oxides are widely studied phase change materials for brain-inspired computing architectures. Systems like VO₂ and V₂O₃ exhibit first-order metal−insulator transitions (MITs) with hysteresis and percolative switching, increasing stochasticity and device variability. Here, we focus on the less explored Magnéli phase V₄O₇, which undergoes a continuous, non-hysteretic, second-order MIT. This surprisingly enables highly reproducible volatile resistive switching in spiking-neuron-type devices. We synthesize V₄O₇ films, characterize their structural and transport properties, and demonstrate voltage and current-driven threshold switching with electrothermal feedback. In a Pearson–Anson oscillator, V₄O₇ devices produce stable, tunable spiking across 20–200 kHz, with consistent operation among multiple devices. We introduce a numerical analog leaky-integrate-and-fire (aLIF) model that captures waveform shapes and their dependence on load resistance, temperature, and voltage. Furthermore, these findings suggest that second-order MIT materials like V₄O₇ are promising for deterministic, scalable spiking neuron arrays for neuromorphic computing.

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Research Organization:: University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States); University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0019273

OSTI ID:: 3376429

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Electronic Materials, Journal Name: ACS Applied Electronic Materials Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 8; ISSN 2637-6113

Publisher:: ACS PublicationsCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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