Researchers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT, aka Phystech) have developed prototype nanodimensional electronic synapses, portal Nanonewsnet.ru . These components may one day make it possible to create computers emulating the functionality of the human central nervous system.

The e-synapses are based on hafnium oxide super-thin film 40x40 square nanometers in size. In fact, what the Phystech team has come up with is a memristor; depending on a charge that passes through a synapse, the latter’s conductivity changes, thus enabling the component to “remember” its prior state.

The properties of electronic synapses are very much like those of biological ones. The scientists believe that once integrated in matrices, the e-synapses will bring about computers based on brand new principles; technology they will be built around will have been a result of the analysis of the human central nervous system.

In biology, synapses are what researchers refer to as “neuron joints.” They are necessary to transmit various signals from one neuron to another.