Path‐Decoupled Cation‐Eutaxy III–V van der Waals Memristive Semiconductors for Mitigating the Neuromorphic Accuracy‐Energy Trade‐off

Abstract

ABSTRACT Transistor‐based computing faces a fundamental energy‐resolution trade‐off: lowering the conductance reduces the programming energy (Eprog) but simultaneously narrows the dynamic range ( G max / G min ) required for multilevel state discrimination. A memristor offers analog programmability, but it suffers from the same limitation because reducing the conductance decreases G max / G min , degrading the learning accuracy. Here, a path‐decoupled III–V van der Waals (vdW) memtransistor overcomes this constraint via the spatial separation of the ionic and electronic transport pathways. Using H x K 1–x GaSb 2 , K + vacancies confined to the vdW gap serve as mobile ionic species, while holes conduct within the covalently bonded [GaSb 2 ] layers. This decoupling yields a high K + diffusivity and enables memristive switching at markedly reduced voltages. The memristive window G max / G min —which is set by ionic motion—remains invariant under gate modulation, whereas E prog decreases via electrostatic control of the channel conductance. Consequently, the synaptic plasticity and neuromorphic inference maintain a high accuracy (>80%), while E prog is reduced by more than an order of magnitude. The results establish ionic‐electronic path decoupling as a general strategy for breaking the accuracy‐energy trade‐off in emerging neuromorphic hardware and position III–V vdW materials, which are promising candidates for application in low‐energy, artificial intelligence accelerators.