Electrolytic growth processes with applications to adaptive systems

Abstract

Two types of electrolytic growth processes have been investigated as possible means of controlling impedances in adaptive systems. One of these entails the growth of conductors by metallic deposition and the other the growth of insulation by anodic oxidation. The way in which the growth of a metallic dendrite changes the impedance of a cell has been determined, and it has been found that this depends very much on the shape of the cell. By restricting growth to narrow channels it has been found possible to reliably control the impedance of cells. The properties of devices employing this principle are described. The growth of insulating films on aluminium has been found to be another satisfactory method of reproducibly adjusting the impedance of a cell. The properties of these films and the impedance changes which take place during their 'formation' and 'erosion' are discussed. These films have special properties which make them suitable for use in the fabrication of devices containing many variable impedances in a single unit. The construction and properties of these devices are described. An adaptive system employing the growth of dendrites has been constructed, and trained to distinguish between four simple patterns. The design of this machine and the training procedure employed are given. Suggestions are made for future work and for other
applications or electrolytic growth processes.

Citation

(1963). Electrolytic growth processes with applications to adaptive systems