A CMOS implementation of FitzHugh-Nagumo neuron model

A CMOS circuit that emulates the FitzHugh-Nagumo neuron model is introduced. A complete derivation of the neuron model is presented, starting with the description of the fundamental biological mechanisms involved in the living neural cell, followed by the mathematical model formulation extracted from these mechanisms. A circuit theory technique for obtaining a physical IC suitable circuit that emulates the derived mathematical equations is then presented, culminating with the presentation of experimental results on a chip fabricated in a 2- mu m double-metal, double-poly CMOS process. It is emphasized that the FitzHugh-Nagumo model is very adequate for emulation of small biological systems. A reduced-complexity oscillatory model suitable for implementation of relatively large neural network architectures is also introduced with several corresponding CMOS realizations and measured results.< >