In this letter, we propose an area-efficient series-connected resonant tunneling diode pair device (SCRTD) to utilize as a binary neuron device in cellular neural networks (CNNs). The proposed SCRTD (P-SCRTD) consists of two RTDs interconnected by a floating metal layer with a high-doped epitaxial layer. The P-SCRTD shows a 48 % reduction in area by eliminating the isolation area in the conventional SCRTD (C-SCRTD) owing to the symmetrical I-V characteristic of the RTD, without any performance penalty on the DC and RF characteristics by means of adopting the floating metal layer, compared to the C-SCRTD. CNN application of the P-SCRTD is investigated, showing inherent threshold operation and high-speed (12.5 Gbps) low-power (21 mW) performance, despite using the $2~\mu \text{m}$ technology node, for a unit cell for edge extraction.

中文翻译：

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面积有效串联谐振隧道二极管对作为细胞神经网络中的二元神经元

在这封信中，我们提出了一种面积高效的串联谐振隧道二极管对器件 (SCRTD)，用作细胞神经网络 (CNN) 中的二元神经元器件。拟议的 SCRTD (P-SCRTD) 由两个 RTD 组成，这些 RTD 通过浮动金属层与高掺杂外延层互连。由于 RTD 具有对称的 IV 特性，P-SCRTD 通过消除传统 SCRTD (C-SCRTD) 中的隔离面积，面积减少了 48%，并且通过采用以下方式对 DC 和 RF 特性没有任何性能损失与 C-SCRTD 相比，浮动金属层。研究了 P-SCRTD 的 CNN 应用，显示了固有的阈值操作和高速 (12.5 Gbps) 低功耗 (21 mW) 性能，尽管使用了 $2~\mu \text{m}$ 技术节点，对于一个单元用于边缘提取的单元格。