CN107368888B

CN107368888B - Brain-like computing system and synapse thereof

Info

Publication number: CN107368888B
Application number: CN201610310747.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 戴瑾
Original assignee: Shanghai Ciyu Information Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Ciyu Information Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-05-11
Filing date: 2016-05-11
Publication date: 2021-05-25
Anticipated expiration: 2036-05-11
Also published as: CN107368888A

Abstract

A brain-like computing system and synapses therefor, the synapses being MTJ synapses comprising memory MTJs and reference MTJs; the output end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron which inputs charge in a brain-like computing system, and the input end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron which outputs charge in the brain-like computing system; an output of an MTJ synapse is placed at a reference potential, a memory MTJ is adapted to receive a first pulse from an input of the MTJ synapse, a reference MTJ is adapted to receive a second pulse from the input of the MTJ synapse, the first pulse is transmitted at the same time as the second pulse, and is of the same shape and opposite sign; the MTJ synapse further comprises a first gating device connected to the memory MTJ and a second gating device connected to the reference MTJ, and the first gating device and the second gating device are respectively arranged on different current paths between the neuron outputting the charges and the neuron inputting the charges, and the current guiding directions of the first gating device and the neuron inputting the charges are opposite. The technical scheme of the invention can effectively reduce the area of synapses, expand the scale of chips integrated by a brain-like computing system and reduce power consumption.

Description

Brain-like computing system and synapse thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor chips, in particular to a brain-like computing system and synapses thereof.

Background

With respect to the magnetic tunnel junction:

a Magnetic Tunneling Junction (MTJ) is a structure consisting of two layers of ferromagnetic material sandwiching a very thin layer of non-ferromagnetic insulating material, as shown in fig. 1. The most important application of the Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) chip is that the MRAM chip is used.

Referring to FIG. 1, the lower layer of ferromagnetic material is a reference layer with a fixed magnetization direction and the upper layer of ferromagnetic material is a variable magnetization direction memory layer whose magnetization direction can be parallel or anti-parallel to the fixed magnetization layer. Due to quantum physical effects, current can pass through the middle tunnel barrier layer, but the resistance of the MTJ is related to the magnetization direction of the variable magnetization layer. The former case has a low resistance and the latter case has a high resistance.

Using the newer Spin Torque Transfer (STT) technique, changing the state of the MTJ is also simpler: write operations are performed through the MTJ using a stronger current than read. A bottom-up current places the variable magnetization layer in a direction parallel to the fixed layer, and a top-down circuit places it in an anti-parallel direction.

Neurons and architecture with respect to the human brain:

the human brain is a complex network of numerous neurons connected. Referring to fig. 2, each neuron receives information by connecting to a large number of other neurons through a large number of dendrites, and each connection point is called a Synapse (Synapse). After the external stimulus has accumulated to a certain extent, a stimulus signal is generated and transmitted out through the axon. Axons have a large number of terminals, which are connected by synapses to dendrites of a large number of other neurons. It is such a network consisting of simple functional neurons that implement all the intelligent activities of human beings. Human memory and intelligence are generally believed to be stored in the different coupling strengths at each synapse.

The response frequency of neurons does not exceed 100Hz, and the CPU of modern computers is 1000 ten thousand times faster than the human brain, but the ability to handle many complex problems is inferior to the human brain. This has prompted the computer industry to begin to mimic the human brain.

With respect to Neural networks (Neural networks):

the earliest emulation of the human brain was at the software level. Neural network algorithms, emerging from the 60 s of the last century, mimic the function of neurons with a function. The function accepts a plurality of inputs, each input having a different weight, and the process of learning training is to adjust the respective weights. The function is output to many other neurons, forming a network. The algorithm has achieved abundant results and is widely applied. However, if the algorithm is pushed up to the scale of the human brain (more than 1000 hundred million neurons), the modern computing system cannot bear the algorithm, and the algorithm consumes power, and huge power supply is also needed. The power consumption of the human brain is only about 25 watts.

Concerning the impulse Neural Network (Spiking Neural Network)

With the motivation to reduce power consumption, research on human brain simulation at a hardware level has been started. Spiking neural networks are considered to be the basis for next generation brain-like computations. It is designed to be more like the human brain, and neurons emit a pulse outward after accumulating a certain degree of input. Unlike conventional neural networks, any trivial input causes the entire network to operate, thus saving a significant amount of power. Such networks have been fabricated as chips. The truenenorth chip from IBM corporation is a well-known example. It integrates 1 million neurons, 256 million synapses. Algorithms that accomplish some artificial intelligence with very low power consumption are demonstrated.

The key information of human intelligence and memory is preserved in the synapse. In IBM's TrueNorth chip, synapses are modeled as a synapse by a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) bit. However, since SRAM occupies a large chip area and is a relatively expensive memory, the size of this chip is far from the human brain; in addition, the SRAM has other problems such as power consumption due to leakage.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the problems that the synapse occupation area of the existing brain-like computing system is large, the scale of an integrated chip is difficult to effectively expand, and the power consumption is increased due to electric leakage.

In order to solve the above problems, the technical solution of the present invention provides a synapse of a brain-like computing system, the synapse being an MTJ synapse comprising an MTJ, the MTJ synapse comprising a memory MTJ and a reference MTJ; an output end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron in the brain-like computing system that inputs a charge, and an input end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron in the brain-like computing system that outputs a charge; when the brain-like computing system is in a normal working mode, the output end of the MTJ synapse is placed at a reference potential, the memory MTJ is suitable for receiving a first pulse from the input end of the MTJ synapse, the reference MTJ is suitable for receiving a second pulse from the input end of the MTJ synapse, the first pulse and the second pulse are transmitted at the same time, the shape is the same, and the signs are opposite, and the voltage difference of the first pulse and the second pulse is determined by the reference potential and a reading voltage of the MTJ synapse; the MTJ synapse further comprises a first gating device connected with the memory MTJ and a second gating device connected with the reference MTJ, wherein the first gating device and the second gating device are respectively arranged on different current paths between the neuron outputting the charge and the neuron inputting the charge, and the current guiding directions of the first gating device and the second gating device are opposite.

Optionally, the first gating device and the second gating device are both gated diodes.

Optionally, the MTJ synapses in the brain-like computing system comprise two-state MTJ synapses including a memory MTJ and a reference MTJ.

Optionally, the MTJ synapses in the brain-like computing system further include four-state MTJ synapses constructed by two of the two-state MTJ synapses, wherein a pulse applied to an input of one of the two-state MTJ synapses is different from a pulse applied to an input of the other two-state MTJ synapse.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention further provides a brain-like computing system, including: more than one neuron and more than one MTJ synapse, the neurons being connected by the MTJ synapses; all the MTJ synapses respectively contain reference MTJs in the same agreed state.

Optionally, the neuron comprises a charge integrator and a pulse generator; the charge integrator is suitable for collecting the charge input from the input point of each external or other neuron and accumulating the input charge, and when the charge accumulation reaches a set value, triggering the pulse generator to transmit the first pulse and the second pulse to each output MTJ synapse and simultaneously enabling the accumulated charge to be zero; an output of the MTJ synapse is connected to a charge integrator included in a neuron that inputs a charge, and an input of the MTJ synapse is connected to a pulse generator included in a neuron that outputs a charge.

Optionally, the charge integrator comprises an operational amplifier and a capacitor; the reference potential is arranged at a first input end of the operational amplifier, a second input end of the operational amplifier is connected with an output end of the MTJ synapse, an output end of the operational amplifier is connected with an input end of the pulse generator, and two ends of the capacitor are respectively connected with the second input end and the output end of the operational amplifier.

Optionally, the computer-like computing system further includes a write driving circuit, a first output end of the write driving circuit is connected to an output end of the pulse generator for each memory MTJ, and a second output end of the write driving circuit is connected to an input end of the charge integrator for each memory MTJ; the write driving circuit is in a through state in a normal working mode, the pulse generator and the charge integrator are in a high-resistance state in a programming mode, and the write driving circuit is used for changing or maintaining the state of the memory MTJ in the programming mode; the voltage applied to the memory MTJ and the first gating device is determined according to the reference potential, a programming voltage of the MTJ synapse, and a forward voltage drop or reverse turn-on voltage of the first gating device.

Optionally, the brain-like computing system is integrated in a semiconductor chip in a layered structure, the layered structure is formed by sequentially and alternately layering more than one neuron charge output layer and more than one neuron charge input layer, the neuron charge output layer includes more than one neuron outputting charges and a set of output lines corresponding to the neuron charge output layer, and the neuron charge input layer includes more than one neuron inputting charges and a set of input lines corresponding to the neuron charge input layer; the output lines and the input lines of two adjacent layers are arranged in a crisscross mode to form an array, an MTJ synapse is arranged at each intersection position between the output lines and the input lines of the two adjacent layers, each output line of each charge output neuron and each input line of each charge input neuron respectively comprise two conducting wires, one conducting wire included in the output lines and one conducting wire included in the input lines are connected with the memory MTJ and the first gating device to form a current path, and the other conducting wire included in the output lines and the other conducting wire included in the input lines are connected with the reference MTJ and the second gating device to form another current path.

Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the invention at least has the following advantages:

by simulating synapses in a brain-like computing system by using the MTJ structure, the function that the synapses should have can be realized, the occupied area of the synapses can be effectively reduced, and the synapses can be powered off when not used according to the nonvolatile storage characteristic of the MTJ, so that a brain-like chip of a future integrated brain-like computing system can have larger scale and smaller power consumption.

The advantages of the brain-like computing system and the synapse thereof provided by the technical scheme of the invention are specifically analyzed as follows:

1. the use of MTJ instead of conventional SRAM as synapse can reduce the area of synapse to one tenth or more, meaning that the same chip can perform much larger scale calculations.

2. The SRAM used by the traditional synapse can leak electricity when not used, the electricity leakage is serious when the chip scale is large, and the MTJ synapse can be powered off when not used, so that the power consumption can be reduced.

And 3, the original information of the MTJ is kept when the power is off, another chip is not needed to store programming information, and the MTJ can be started instantly without loading content when being started.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a MTJ having characteristics of a high resistance state and a low resistance state;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the neuronal architecture of the human brain;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a brain-like computing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a two-state MTJ synapse structure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a four-state MTJ synapse in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic circuit diagram of a charge integrator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an array layout of a computing chip of the integrated brain-like computing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 3, an embodiment of the present invention provides a brain-like computing system, including: the neuron comprises more than one neuron and more than one MTJ synapse, wherein the neuron and the neuron are connected through the MTJ synapse. Specifically, the one or more neurons include a charge input neuron and a charge output neuron, each charge input neuron is connected with one or more MTJ synapses, and each charge output neuron is also connected with one or more MTJ synapses.

The neuron structure in this embodiment is shown in fig. 3, and may include a charge integrator and a pulse generator, where the charge integrator collects the current input from each external or other neuron input point, accumulates the input current, and when the charge accumulation reaches a set value, triggers the pulse generator to emit a pulse to each output synapse, and the charge returns to zero. The structure of the neuron in this embodiment will be further described later.

Furthermore, neurons in brain-like computing systems also receive external power and receive external control signals, as is known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail herein.

It should be noted that, unlike the prior art scheme that typically emulates synapses in SRAM, synapses employed in brain-like computing systems provided by embodiments of the present invention are MTJ synapses comprising MTJs.

In particular, referring to FIG. 4, the MTJ synapse comprises a memory MTJ and a reference MTJ; an output end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron in the brain-like computing system that inputs a charge, and an input end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron in the brain-like computing system that outputs a charge; when the brain-like computing system is in a normal working mode, the output end of the MTJ synapse is placed at a reference potential, the memory MTJ is suitable for receiving a first pulse from the input end of the MTJ synapse, the reference MTJ is suitable for receiving a second pulse from the input end of the MTJ synapse, the first pulse and the second pulse are transmitted at the same time, the shape is the same, and the signs are opposite, and the voltage difference of the first pulse and the second pulse is determined by the reference potential and a reading voltage of the MTJ synapse; the MTJ synapse further comprises a first gating device connected with the memory MTJ and a second gating device connected with the reference MTJ, wherein the first gating device and the second gating device are respectively arranged on different current paths between the neuron outputting the charge and the neuron inputting the charge, and the current guiding directions of the first gating device and the second gating device are opposite.

In this embodiment, the reference MTJs included in all the MTJ synapses are in the same predetermined state (either all high resistance states or all low resistance states). The working principle of the MTJ synapse is as follows:

with continued reference to FIG. 4, the output of the MTJ synapse (connected to the charge integrator of a neuron) is placed at a reference potential V _ b;

the input pulse generator transmits a pulse (i.e. a first pulse) to the memory MTJ, for example, a square wave from a reference potential V _ b to V _ b + V _ read, where V _ read is the read voltage to the MTJ synapse;

this pulse generator simultaneously emits a pulse of the same shape but opposite sign (i.e., the second pulse) to the reference MTJ, which in the case of the square wave above, may be a square wave from the reference potential V _ b to V _ b-V _ read.

Thus, when the memory MTJ and the reference MTJ are in the same state, there is no net charge output for the entire MTJ synapse, but only when the memory MTJ is in a different state than the reference MTJ.

In practical implementation, both the first gating device and the second gating device may be implemented by using gating diodes, that is, one gating diode is connected to each of the memory MTJ and the reference MTJ and is respectively used for conducting respective read pulses, so that the connection setting of the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the gating diode should be consistent with the current direction of the read pulses. As shown in fig. 4, the anode of the gate diode (first gate device) corresponding to the memory MTJ is connected to the output terminal of the pulse generator for outputting the first pulse, and the cathode of the gate diode is connected to the memory MTJ; the negative pole of the gating diode (second gating device) corresponding to the reference MTJ is connected to the output end of the pulse generator for outputting the second pulse, and the positive pole of the gating diode is connected to the reference MTJ.

Of course, the positions between the memory MTJ, the reference MTJ and the respective gating diode are not limited to the manner shown in fig. 4, and the positions are completely interchangeable. For example: the negative pole of the gating diode corresponding to the memory MTJ can be connected with the input end of the charge integrator for inputting the first pulse, and the positive pole of the gating diode is connected with the memory MTJ; alternatively, the anode of the gating diode corresponding to the reference MTJ may be connected to the input terminal of the charge integrator for inputting the second pulse, and the cathode of the gating diode may be connected to the reference MTJ.

In other embodiments, the first gating device and the second gating device may be implemented by other devices or circuits that can perform similar functions. The function of the first and second gating devices will be explained further below.

In the present embodiment, the MTJ synapse shown in fig. 4 comprises a memory MTJ and a reference MTJ, and such MTJ synapses may represent two units of charge, 0 and 1, and thus may be referred to as two-state MTJ synapses. Of course, the MTJ synapses in the brain-like computing system may include, in addition to the two-state MTJ synapses, a four-state MTJ synapse constructed from two of the two-state MTJ synapses, where a pulse applied to an input of one of the two-state MTJ synapses is different from a pulse applied to an input of the other two-state MTJ synapse. An optimal design is to have twice the amount of charge in the pulse of one two-state MTJ synapse as the other.

While fig. 4 shows a two-state MTJ synapse, a four-state MTJ synapse may be constructed with two such synapses, as shown in fig. 5. In practical implementation, the same pulse generator may emit a pulse of a greater width to a second one of the four-state MTJ synapses relative to a first one of the four-state MTJ synapses. Also in the above example of a square wave, it may be a square wave of the same height (voltage difference) but twice as wide (i.e., pulse time). So that the entire combination can output four units of charge, 0, 1, 2, 3.

It should be noted that the MTJ synapses between the neurons may adopt two-state MTJ synapses, four-state MTJ synapses, or even eight-state and sixteen-state MTJ synapses, which are determined by the requirement of connection strength between the neurons. Of course, in practical implementation, the more the MTJ synapse is in the high state, the more complicated the implementation difficulty will be.

It should be noted that there may be some preliminary schemes of using variable resistance material as synapses in the prior art, but the above design of simulating synapses in a manner of using two MTJs to form a current difference is not disclosed in this embodiment, which is not contemplated by those skilled in the art.

As mentioned hereinbefore, in the present embodiment, the neuron comprises a charge integrator and a pulse generator; under the control of external power supply and external control signals, the charge integrator is suitable for collecting each charge (current) input from an input point of an external or other neuron and accumulating the input charge (current), and when the charge accumulation reaches a set value, the pulse generator is triggered to transmit a first pulse and a second pulse to each output MTJ synapse and simultaneously return the accumulated charge to zero; an output of the MTJ synapse is connected to a charge integrator included in a neuron that inputs a charge, and an input of the MTJ synapse is connected to a pulse generator included in a neuron that outputs a charge. It is easily understood by those skilled in the art that in practical implementation, since the resistance value of each MTJ synapse may be different, the current output to each other neuron or external output point will be different.

In practical implementation, the charge integrator in the neuron element of this embodiment may be a standard analog integrated circuit device, and there are many different circuits in textbooks. An example is given below:

the charge integrator comprises an operational amplifier and a capacitor; the reference potential is arranged at a first input end of the operational amplifier, a second input end of the operational amplifier is connected with an output end of the MTJ synapse, an output end of the operational amplifier is connected with an input end of the pulse generator, and two ends of the capacitor are respectively connected with the second input end and the output end of the operational amplifier (one end of the capacitor is connected with the second input end of the operational amplifier, and the other end of the capacitor is connected with the output end of the operational amplifier).

In practical implementation, the charge integrator may comprise an operational amplifier and a capacitor C, as shown in fig. 6. The amplification effect of the operational amplifier makes the potential of the point A very close to the reference potential V _ B, the high input resistance of the operational amplifier makes the inflowing charges be totally accumulated on the capacitor C, and the potential of the point B is gradually far away from the reference potential V _ B due to the accumulation of the opposite charges; when the potential at point B reaches a set value, the pulse generator emits a pulse and triggers a circuit to discharge the charge on capacitor C.

As for the pulse generator in the present embodiment, the design thereof is simpler and can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art, and thus, the detailed description thereof is omitted.

In this embodiment, the charge integrator is time-limited, and if there is no new input for a long time, the charge on the capacitor C will leak out and the original accumulation will be lost. But this should work in a similar manner to the human brain, with continuous stimulation producing results.

It should be noted that the neurons in this embodiment are simulated by an analog circuit implementation of a charge integrator in combination with a pulse generator, whereas the neurons in the brain-like computing system in the prior art are mostly simulated by a digital circuit implementation, and the implementation of the neurons in this embodiment is simpler and more effective. Furthermore, although charge integrators are well known to those skilled in the art, the use of charge integrators to mimic the design of neurons is not necessarily readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

The implementation of the brain-like computing system of the present embodiment in the normal operation mode (mainly including the reading of data) is described above, and the implementation of the brain-like computing system in the programming mode (mainly including the writing of data) is also described below.

In this embodiment, the computer-like computing system may further include a write driving circuit, a first output end of the write driving circuit is connected to an output end of the pulse generator for each memory MTJ, and a second output end of the write driving circuit is connected to an input end of the charge integrator for each memory MTJ; the write driving circuit is in a through state in a normal working mode, the pulse generator and the charge integrator are in a high-resistance state in a programming mode, and the write driving circuit is used for changing or maintaining the state of the memory MTJ in the programming mode; the voltage applied to the memory MTJ and the first gating device is determined according to the reference potential, a programming voltage of the MTJ synapse, and a forward voltage drop or reverse turn-on voltage of the first gating device.

As previously described, when the memory MTJ and the reference MTJ are in the same state, there is no net charge output for the entire MTJ synapse, but only when the memory MTJ is in a different state than the reference MTJ. Therefore, if the MTJ synapse needs to be controlled to output the charge, the state of the memory MTJ relative to the reference MTJ needs to be changed, and for this purpose, the write driving circuit may be provided at the output end of the pulse generator for each memory MTJ and the input end of the charge integrator for each memory MTJ, and the write driving circuit is in the through state in the normal operation mode, and the pulse generator and the charge integrator are in the high-resistance state in the programming mode.

It should be noted that the "high impedance state" is a common knowledge in the art, and is a common term in a digital circuit, and refers to an output state of a tri-state gate, which is neither high nor low. When the pulse generator and the charge integrator are in a high-resistance state, the voltage applied by the write driving circuit to two ends of the memory MTJ cannot be influenced, namely the programming accuracy cannot be influenced.

In practice, the write driver circuit may set the memory MTJ to one state by placing the output of the pulse generator at the potential "V _ b + V _ write + gated diode forward voltage drop" through its first output and placing the input of the charge integrator at the reference potential V _ b through its second output; similarly, the write driving circuit may also place the output terminal of the pulse generator at the reference potential V _ b through the first output terminal thereof, and place the input terminal of the charge integrator at the potential "V _ b + V _ write + gated diode reverse conduction voltage" through the second output terminal thereof, so as to place the memory MTJ in the opposite state; where V _ write is the programming voltage for the MTJ synapse.

In the embodiment of the invention, a computing chip (generally called brain-like chip in the industry) imitating the human brain principle is designed by using the MTJ technology, the brain-like computing system is integrated into the computing chip, and one of the most important applications of the brain-like computing system is in the field of artificial intelligence.

A common implementation of the computing chip is described below:

the brain-like computing system is integrated on a semiconductor chip in a layered structure, the layered structure is formed by sequentially and alternately layering more than one neuron charge output layer and more than one neuron charge input layer, the neuron charge output layer comprises more than one neuron for outputting charges and a group of output lines corresponding to the neuron charge output layer, and the neuron charge input layer comprises more than one neuron for inputting charges and a group of input lines corresponding to the neuron charge input layer; the output lines and the input lines of two adjacent layers are arranged in a crisscross mode to form an array, an MTJ synapse is arranged at each intersection position between the output lines and the input lines of the two adjacent layers, each output line of each charge output neuron and each input line of each charge input neuron respectively comprise two conducting wires, one conducting wire included in the output lines and one conducting wire included in the input lines are connected with the memory MTJ and the first gating device to form a current path, and the other conducting wire included in the output lines and the other conducting wire included in the input lines are connected with the reference MTJ and the second gating device to form another current path.

It is to be noted that, as those skilled in the art will appreciate, the "layer" in the "layered structure" of the embodiments of the present invention is a concept of a neural network, and specifically refers to a layer in a network structure, rather than a layer in a three-dimensional space.

An array layout of a brain-like computing system integrated on a semiconductor chip in a layered structure is shown in fig. 7. Shown in fig. 7 are N-th layer neurons (assumed to be a neuron charge outputting layer) each of which is connected with one output line composed of two wires (each of the lines in fig. 7 actually includes two wires), and output lines thereof, such as neuron-1, neuron-2, neuron-3, neuron-4, and so on, the output lines to which each of the N-th layer neurons is connected forming one set of output lines; also shown in FIG. 7 are layer N +1 neurons (assumed to be the neuron charge input layer) each of which is also connected to one input line of two wires, and their input lines, e.g., neuron two 1, neuron two 2, neuron two 3, neuron two 4, etc., which form a set of input lines; the N-th layer of neuron output lines and the N + 1-th layer of neuron input lines may be arranged in an array as shown in fig. 7, the two groups of lines are arranged in a two-layer crossbar layout, an MTJ synapse (shown as a black oval in fig. 7) is disposed at each intersection, each MTJ synapse at least comprises a pair of MTJs formed by two MTJs, namely a memory MTJ and a reference MTJ, wherein the memory MTJ and a corresponding gating diode thereof are respectively connected with two wires, and the reference MTJ and a corresponding gating diode thereof are also respectively connected with two wires; for example: aiming at the MTJ synapse arranged at the intersection position of a certain output line of the N layer neuron and a certain input line of the N +1 layer neuron, one wire contained in the output line and one wire contained in the input line are connected with the memory MTJ and the corresponding gating diode to form a current path, and the other wire contained in the output line and the other wire contained in the input line are connected with the reference MTJ and the corresponding gating diode to form another current path.

It should be noted that, the gate diode connected to the memory MTJ and the gate diode connected to the reference MTJ have the function of forcing the current to flow in the network formed by the brain-like computing system, and only the simplest route can be selected, that is, the system can only turn once and cannot turn many times, so as to ensure the normal operation of the system.

It should be noted that, the above array layout may also refer to the design of the IBM truenenorth chip in the prior art, and what is different is that the array layout of the computing chip according to the embodiment of the present invention adopts the structure formed by the memory MTJ and the reference MTJ to simulate synapses between neurons, instead of synapses formed by the conventional SRAM; in addition, the implementation of the neuron in the form of an analog circuit with a charge integrator in combination with a pulse generator is different from the prior art implementation in the form of a digital circuit.

Compared with the conventional SRAM which is adopted to imitate synapses in a brain-like computing system (such as IBM truenenorth chip in the prior art), the computing chip integrating the brain-like computing system in the embodiment of the present invention has the following advantages:

by using MTJ to replace traditional SRAM as synapse, area occupied by synapse can be effectively reduced, so that the same computing chip can perform larger-scale computation; the SRAM used by the traditional synapse has a leakage phenomenon when not used, the leakage is particularly serious when the chip scale is large, and the MTJ synapse can be subjected to power-off control when not used, so that the power consumption can be reduced; the original information of the MTJ is kept when the power is off, another chip is not needed to store programming information, and the content is not needed to be loaded when the MTJ is started, so that the design is simplified, and the starting speed of the system is improved.

In practical implementations, each MTJ synapse generally has a different resistance in different states, and thus the current output to each other neuron or external output point will be different. It should be noted that, since the chip integrated with the brain-like computing system performs analog computation in this embodiment, the analog computation has errors, errors from noise, and errors due to slightly different resistances of each MTJ, just as the analog computation is performed in the human brain. The intelligent algorithm has certain tolerance to errors, and the simple circuit provided by the embodiment is completely possible to realize on the premise that the intelligent algorithm can accept the errors.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art can make variations and modifications of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention by using the methods and technical contents disclosed above.

Claims

1. Synaptic electrical circuit of a brain-like computing system, wherein the synaptic electrical circuit is an MTJ synapse comprising an MTJ, the MTJ synapse comprising a memory MTJ and a reference MTJ; an output end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron in the brain-like computing system that inputs a charge, and an input end of the MTJ synapse is connected to a neuron in the brain-like computing system that outputs a charge; when the brain-like computing system is in a normal working mode, the output end of the MTJ synapse is placed at a reference potential, the memory MTJ is suitable for receiving a first pulse from the input end of the MTJ synapse, the reference MTJ is suitable for receiving a second pulse from the input end of the MTJ synapse, the first pulse and the second pulse are transmitted at the same time, the shape is the same, and the signs are opposite, and the voltage difference of the first pulse and the second pulse is determined by the reference potential and a reading voltage of the MTJ synapse; the MTJ synapse further comprises a first gating device connected with the memory MTJ and a second gating device connected with the reference MTJ, wherein the first gating device and the second gating device are respectively arranged on different current paths between the neuron outputting the charge and the neuron inputting the charge, and the current guiding directions of the first gating device and the second gating device are opposite.

2. The brain-like computing system synaptic electrical circuit of claim 1, wherein the first and second gating devices are gated diodes.

3. The synaptic electrical circuit of claim 1, wherein the MTJ synapses in the brain-like computing system comprise two-state MTJ synapses comprising a memory MTJ and a reference MTJ.

4. The synapse circuit of the brain-like computing system of claim 3, wherein the MTJ synapses in the brain-like computing system further comprise a four-state MTJ synapse constructed from two of the two-state MTJ synapses, wherein a pulse applied to an input of one of the two-state MTJ synapses is different from a pulse applied to an input of the other two-state MTJ synapse.

5. A brain-like computing system, comprising: one or more neurons and one or more synaptic electrical circuits according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein neurons are connected together by said MTJ synapses; all the MTJ synapses respectively contain reference MTJs in the same agreed state.

6. The brain-like computing system of claim 5, wherein the neuron comprises a charge integrator and a pulse generator; the charge integrator is suitable for collecting the charge input from the input point of each external or other neuron and accumulating the input charge, and when the charge accumulation reaches a set value, triggering the pulse generator to transmit the first pulse and the second pulse to each MTJ synapse and simultaneously enabling the accumulated charge to be zero; an output of the MTJ synapse is connected to a charge integrator included in a neuron that inputs a charge, and an input of the MTJ synapse is connected to a pulse generator included in a neuron that outputs a charge.

7. The brain-like computing system of claim 6, wherein the charge integrator comprises an operational amplifier and a capacitor; the reference potential is arranged at a first input end of the operational amplifier, a second input end of the operational amplifier is connected with an output end of the MTJ synapse, an output end of the operational amplifier is connected with an input end of the pulse generator, and two ends of the capacitor are respectively connected with the second input end and the output end of the operational amplifier.

8. The brain-like computing system of claim 6, further comprising a write driver circuit, a first output of the write driver circuit being connected to an output of the pulse generator to each memory MTJ, a second output of the write driver circuit being connected to an input of each memory MTJ to the charge integrator; the write driving circuit is in a through state in a normal working mode, the pulse generator and the charge integrator are in a high-resistance state in a programming mode, and the write driving circuit is used for changing or maintaining the state of the memory MTJ in the programming mode; the voltage applied to the memory MTJ and the first gating device is determined according to the reference potential, a programming voltage of the MTJ synapse, and a forward voltage drop or reverse turn-on voltage of the first gating device.

9. The brain-like computing system according to claim 5, wherein the brain-like computing system is integrated on a semiconductor chip in a layered structure, the layered structure is formed by alternately layering more than one neuron charge output layer and more than one neuron charge input layer in sequence, the neuron charge output layer comprises more than one neuron outputting charges and a corresponding set of output lines, and the neuron charge input layer comprises more than one neuron inputting charges and a corresponding set of input lines; the output lines and the input lines of two adjacent layers are arranged in a crisscross mode to form an array, an MTJ synapse is arranged at each intersection position between the output lines and the input lines of the two adjacent layers, each output line of each charge output neuron and each input line of each charge input neuron respectively comprise two conducting wires, one conducting wire included in the output lines and one conducting wire included in the input lines are connected with the memory MTJ and the first gating device to form a current path, and the other conducting wire included in the output lines and the other conducting wire included in the input lines are connected with the reference MTJ and the second gating device to form another current path.