What's good about memristors? Who is planning on using them?

28 Aug 2008 • 1 minute read

I recently read an interesting article in the August 18, 2008 Electronic Engineering Times magazine titled - "Will memristors prove irresistible?" My brother-in-law who used to work for HP years ago, called me excitedly one evening telling me about this new passive device - it's really cool!

For those who may have not heard about this very unique device, here are some highlights:

Invented in 1971 by EE professor Leon Chua at the University of California, Berkeley, this "memory resistor" represents a potential revolution in electronic-circuit theory. The device acts as a variable resistance that "remembers" how much current has flowed through it by changing the voltage across its terminals. Thus, it can serve as a memory element that can be flipped "on", with a current in one direction, and "off" with a current in the reverse direction.
It is the fourth passive circuit element after resistors, capacitors and inductors.
An HP chemist, Senior Fellow Stanley Williams, developed the academic matter from Leon Chua into an actual circuit element.
HP is hoping that resistive random-access memories (RRAMS) will open the floodgates for memristors.
The memristor could turn out to be as important development as the transistor itself!

RRAMS are just three times the density of flash memories. HP is also working on crossbar switches (the building blocks of a new memory type they're developing) which are 20 times denser than flash memories. HP is seeing RRAMS as only the beginning for the memristor and that it could be used in neural networks and adaptive control circuits that learn.

Think about the ramifications for PSpice simulations. What about SI analysis?

I'd like to hear from you about if/when you might be using memristors.

Jerry GenPart