What is a Memristor Circuit?

Memristor, full name Memristor. It is a circuit device representing the relationship between magnetic flux and charge. Memristor has the dimension of resistance, but unlike resistance, the resistance of memristor is determined by the charge flowing through it. Therefore, by measuring the resistance of the memristor, we can know the amount of charge flowing through it, and thus have the effect of memorizing the charge. In 1971 ^[1] , Cai Shaotang pointed out from the point of view of logic and axiom that there should still be a circuit element in nature, which represents the relationship between magnetic flux and electric charge. In 2008 ^[2] , researchers from Hewlett-Packard made nanometer memristive devices for the first time, setting off an upsurge in memristive research. The emergence of nano-memristive devices is expected to realize non-volatile random access memory. In addition, the integration, power consumption, and read / write speed of a random access memory based on memristive are superior to traditional random access memories. In addition, memristive is the best way to implement synapses in artificial neural networks ^[3] . Due to the non-linear nature of memristive, chaotic circuits can be generated, which has many applications in secure communications ^[4] .

Memristor, full name

A sharp contrast at home and abroad

"Just when the mechanism of the memristor has not been fully explored, foreign commercial competition has entered a stage of fever." Referring to the current research situation at home and abroad, said Xu Hui, a professor at the School of Electronic Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology.

Since the advent of HP memristor prototypes, international research has rapidly heated up and more than a hundred research institutions have participated. Not only have Britain, Germany, South Korea and other countries joined one after another, industrial giants such as Intel and IBM have also invested heavily in the support of the US military.

In 2009, the Ministry of Science and Technology launched the international cooperation project "Memristor Materials and Prototype Devices". Miao Xiangshui is the project leader. He also admits that "domestic memristor research is still in its infancy."

The domestic academic circles introduced memristors on formal occasions around 2010. In the 16th session of the Chinese Institute of Electronics

Memristor battery

Memristors have the characteristics of electrochemical cells.

Memristor solid state

In 2007, researchers at Hewlett-Packard's Information and Quantum Systems Laboratory successfully developed a solid-state memristor under the leadership of Richard Stanley Williams. It is formed by a double-layered titanium dioxide film. When it passes, its resistance value will change. The manufacture of solid-state memristors requires nanotechnology involving materials. This memristor does not involve magnetic flux as it does in theory, or stores charge like a capacitor, but uses chemical techniques to achieve the property of resistance that changes with current history.

However, the Samsung Group has a patent-pending memristor that uses technology similar to Hewlett-Packard. Therefore, who is the founder of the memristor remains to be clarified.

Hewlett-Packard Company uses two titanium dioxide films to make memristor elements, one of which is doped.