Cellular Nanoscale Network Cell with Memristors
for Local Implication Logic and Synapses
Mika Laiho, Eero Lehtonen
Microelectronics Laboratory, University of Turku
Joukahaisenkatu 3-5, 20014 Turku, Finland
Email: {mlaiho, elleht}@utu.fi
Abstract—This paper describes a cellular nanoscale network
cell structure that is aimed to be built as a CMOS-nanomemristor
hybrid. The processing cell uses memristors as ON-OFF pro-
grammable synapses, local logic and memory. Local logic is based
on memristor computations using material implication. Only 15
CMOS transistors per cell are used, independent of the size of
the neighborhood, since memristors are used as synapses. Also,
space-dependent templates (weight matrices) are possible at no
extra hardware cost. The operation of the cell is described and
simulation results are shown to illustrate the operation.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Cellular architectures are usually seen to be well
suited for nanoscale technologies because of their regu-
lar, locally connected network topology. The cellular neu-
ral/nonlinear/nanoscale network (CNN) theory [1] is a
paradigm that describes dynamics of processing cells based
on local interaction. The interaction between cells is pro-
grammable via weight matrices (templates) that can be pro-
grammed on the fly allowing sequences of neighbor operations
to be run successively, while intermediate results can be stored
in local memories [2].
The memristor, invented by Chua in 1971 [3], is a nanoscale
resistive memory, the resistance (memristance) of which can
be programmed by passing charge through the device. In order
for the memristance effect to be significant, the device has
to be fabricated in nanoscale. While many groups have run
into the memristance effect in their experiments, HP Labs was
the first to identify their titanium oxide- based device as a
memristor [4].
The memristor can be constructed in a crossbar formation
allowing very dense programmable wiring fabrics. These are of
great interest in terms of building compact large neighborhood
CNNs, especially since memristors can be processed on top
of CMOS circuits (CMOS/nanomemristor hybrids) [5]. The
memristor can be programmed to multiple resistive states [6],
and such a CNN was proposed [7], but programming the
device into two states (ON, OFF state) can be done with much
simpler hardware for controlling the programming. In [8] it
was shown that the ON-OFF programmability is sufficient for
performing CNN operations with binary inputs/outputs.
In this paper, an ON-OFF programmable CNN with memris-
tors acting as synapses, local logic and memory is studied. This
paper is organized so that first, a modified SPICE model of
a memristor used in the simulations is described, and benefits
over existing SPICE models are highlighted. Then, using mem-
ristors for performing material implication logic is reviewed.
Finally, the structure of a CNN cell (CMOS/memristor hybrid)
is described and simulation results are shown.
II. M EMRISTOR M ODEL WITH P ROGRAMMING
T HRESHOLD
The memristor reported in [4] was programmed linearly by
passing charge through the device. However, the resistance of
the memristor reported in [6] exhibits a nonlinear dependence
on the voltage over the memristor. The latter device is of
especial interest here because the nonlinearity allows a specific
programming threshold [9], i.e., the devices can be operated
either in programming or readout mode depending on the volt-
age over the device. Many memristor SPICE models without
the programming threshold exist, e.g., [10]. In this paper a
SPICE model introduced in [7], based on the experimental
data and model of [6] is used. In the model of [7], the current
through the memristor is
I = wn β sinh(αV ) + χ(exp(γV ) − 1). (1)
Here w is the state variable of the memristor [4] and the
constants α,β,χ and γ depend on the physical properties of
the component. The time derivative of the state variable w is
modeled as
dw
= a · f (w) · V q , (2)
dt
where a is a constant, f : [0, 1] → R is a window function [4]
f (w) = 1 − (2w − 1)2p (3)
where p is a positive integer. The state derivative depends
on the q’th power of V , making a proper programming
threshold for large values of q. In the simulations of this
paper n was 4 and q was 13. A large q is needed in order to
model the highly nonlinear dependency of the oxygen vacancy
drift velocity on the applied voltage. More details of the
model and parameters can be found from [7]. Figure 1 shows
Eldo simulations (Eldo is a commercial variant of SPICE) of
the memristor model. The top left subfigure shows voltage
over the memristor, the top right subfigure shows the current
through the memristor whereas the bottom left subfigure shows
the state variable w. It can be observed that small voltages
over the memristor do not affect w which demonstrates the
existence of a proper programming threshold. The bottom
right subfigure shows the current-voltage characteristics of a programming is interrupted and m2 ends up in an intermediate
memristor showing a proper signature of a memristive device. state between ON/OFF states. In [11] it was assumed that pro-
It should be emphasized that, even thought the model is based gramming was instantaneous making the problem nonexistent.
on the experimental data of [6] it is not aiming to be an Here a keeper circuit, shown in Section IV, is used in parallel
accurate physical model (there is not enough data available to RO to guarantee a complete programming.
to do that); the model is aiming at reproducing the general
characteristics/behavior of a memristor. Also, it should be Vcond Vset
noted that here the state variable w is hard limited between
m1 m2
0.05 and 0.95. This avoids the problems in the extremes of w
described in [10].
m1 m2 m2 = m1 → m2
−6
RO
2 2
x 10 0 0 1
0 1 1
1
1
1 0 0
0
Imem

1 1 1
Vin

0
−1
−1
Figure 2. Implication logic with memristors.
−2

−2 −3
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3
Time −7
x 10 Time −7
x 10 B. Multi-Input NOR Using Implication
−6
x 10
1
1
The implication operation of Figure 2 can be extended
0.8 to multiple memristors. This opens up a possibility to use
0.6 0 memristors as synapses of a CNN. Figure 3 shows how
Imem
w

0.4
multi-input, programmable NOR operation can be computed
−1
0.2
with memristors. Memristor m4 is first initialized into a
−2 nonconducting state. Then, the result of the implication gives
0
0 1 2 3 −2 −1 0 1 2
Time −7
x 10 Vin

m4 = [(m1 ∧ Vcond1 ) ∨ (m2 ∧ Vcond2 ) ∨ (m3 ∧ Vcond3 )] → m4 ,

Figure 1. Memristor characteristics simulated using SPICE model.
III. U SE OF M EMRISTORS IN THE CNN C ELL
A. Implication Logic with Memristors
Material implication p → q is a type of logic that was in [11]
shown to be naturally suited for computing with memristors,
assuming that a memristor has a programming threshold.
Figure 2 shows two memristors and a resistor arranged for
performing the implication operation, and the corresponding
truth table. Numbers 0 and 1 in the table correspond to the
memristor being in OFF (nonconducting) and ON (conducting)
state, respectively. It is assumed that RO be much larger than
m1 or m2 in ON state and Vcond < Vset . The table shows
that only when memristor m1 is ON and m2 is OFF, the
result m2 = m1 → m2 will be OFF. In this case voltage
over m2 is Vset − Vcond which is designed to be below the
programming threshold of a memristor. It is well known that
together with the false condition (⊥), implication forms a
functionally complete set H = {→, ⊥}.
When it comes to practical realization, this simple circuit of
Figure 2 has a problem. Namely, assume that m1 is OFF, m2
is OFF and voltages Vcond and Vset are applied as in Figure
2. In the beginning of the programming, voltage over m2 is
Vset −VRo ≈ Vset (VRO is very small). Therefore, m2 starts to
become more conductive (state variable w increases). Because
of this, current through m2 increases; this increases voltage
over R0 (VRo ) and thus decreases voltage over m2 . Therefore,
(4)
where the programming voltages Vcondx are local and are con-
trolled by the outputs of the neighborhood cells. These nodes
are either driven to Vcond or left floating (high impedance),
corresponding to logic 1 and 0. It should be noted that a pro-
grammable multi-input NOR is the key elementary operation
needed in an ON-OFF programmable CNN.
Vcond1 Vcond2 Vcond3 Vset
m1 m2 m3 m4
RO
Figure 3. Programmable multi-input NOR using memristors.
IV. P ROCESSING C ELL
The processing cell shown in Figure 4 is constructed of
the following blocks: neighborhood connections, work mem-
ristors, keeper circuit and two sets of access circuits controlled
by row and column decoding signals. Also shown is a driver
circuit that drives the cell output Y to the neighborhood when
activated by the RU N signal. Control signal AB can be used
to separate the state node X from the output node Y . The
cell is suitable for processing binary templates that do not use
threshold logic.
 neighbor connections
A. Programming of Neighborhood Connections
Figure 4 shows the structure of an ON-OFF programmable
CNN cell using memristors. The memristors used for neigh-
bor connections, are shown on the top (N, W, S, E and mW mS mE mS mSFB
self-feedback connections are drawn). These memristors are
connected between output node OU T , and state node X.
Memristors can be connected to the neighborhood in a floss- work memristors
bar arrangement [13], allowing nearly symmetric large neigh- VIMP1 VIMP2 VIMP3 VIMP4
borhoods. The templates are programmed so that similarly to
RUN
cross-bar memories: each cell has two sets of row and column m1 m2 m3 m4
decoding signals, namely R− ini,j , C− ini,j and R− outi,j , X
AB Y
C− outi,j . Control signal M ASK can be used to make the Vbias1 Vbias2
programming conditional on the state variable Y of the CNN MASK Y VSS
OUT

cell. Control voltages Vprog1 and Vprog2 define whether the VSS R_outi,j

memristors are turned ON or OFF. Here Vprog1 and Vprog2 R_ini,j KEEP

are programmed to either 0 or 2V. If both sets of decoding C_ini,j

signals and M ASK and are active, voltage over all the Vprog1
Vprog2 C_outi,j
neighbor connection memristors is Vprog1 − Vprog2 . This way, VSS
all neighborhood connections can be turned either ON or OFF keeper

simultaneously.
If weights are to be programmed individually, it has to Figure 4. Structure of an ON-OFF programmable CNN cell using memristors.
be done by conducting a procedure depicted in Figure 5.
Rin Cin
It shows how different activation patterns are produced with Rout Cout Weight N

input and output decoders so that the northern neighborhood

connections are turned ON. Six different patterns are needed
in this case, in order to avoid unwanted programming of
connections. All other template elements can be programmed
in a similar manner. It is easy to see that global programming
of space-dependent weights is possible by activating just one
cell as input and one cell as output at a time.
If the control signal M ASK is inactive, the voltage at node
Y affects the writing of template values: if Y is LO, Vprog1 is
not conveyed to node X, preventing the write operation. On
the other hand, if voltage at Y is HI, memristor programming
is possible. This feature can be used to create transient mask:
no incoming connections are programmed into the ON state
if Y is LO. In effect, the transient mask is a special case of
space dependent weights being determined by in-cell memory
contents.
B. Work Memristors
Figure 4 also shows 4 work memristors that are used as
memories and for computing implication operations in order
to perform local logic. In [12] it was shown that any Boolean
operation can be computed with the work memristors, if three
memristors are allocated for storing intermediate processing
results. A very large local memory is possible because of the
compact memristor implementation. It should be noted that
the work memristors do not get programmed unintentionally
when weights are being programmed, because the implication
voltages VIMP 1 - VIMP 4 are normally kept in the middle of
the voltage range.
The circuit block labeled as keeper in Figure 4 shows the
keeper circuit. The keeper circuit is activated when performing
implication or programmable NOR operation. It works so that
first the transistor controlled by Vbias1 (acts as RO ) pulls node
Figure 5. Programming pattern for northern neighborhood connection.
X LO unless one of the input memristors (work memristors
or neighbor memristors), is conducting. In the latter case the
node is in a HI potential. The keeper circuit is then activated
by setting control signal KEEP HI: the keeper keeps the
node LO if it was LO initially, otherwise it does not affect the
voltage of X.
C. Simulation Results
Figure 6 shows a simulated processing sequence with the
cell structure proposed in this paper. The simulations were
carried out for a single cell with Eldo using the SPICE model
described in Section II of this paper and using 65nm CMOS
simulation parameters for the transistors. All transistors were
the same size (0.4um/0.28um), which is the minimum size for
2.5V transistors in the particular process. In the beginning of
the sequence all memristors were initialized in an intermediate
state, the state variable w being 0.3. The upper subfigure shows
the voltages over memristors mSF B, m1 and m4 and after
applying a sequence of control signals. The corresponding
state variables of memristors mSF B, m1 and m4 are shown
in the lower subfigure.
The sequence proceeds so that first mSF B is reset (w
is driven LO). After that, the w of mSF B is programmed
HI. This demonstrates that the programming to OFF and ON
states works. After that, memristor m4 is driven into ON
state, followed by m1 being reset to OFF state. After that,
NOR implication operation is performed. Before doing the
implication, control signal AB is taken LO so that there is no
connection between nodes X and Y . During the implication,
control signal RU N is HI, Y is HI because m4 is conducting
and, thus, output node OU T is pulled HI. Furthermore, as
mSF B is conducting, X is pulled HI. At this point, the keeper
circuit is activated, but it has no effect on X. Therefore, m1
remains in a nonconductive state as a result of the implication.
2 Time
VX−VOUT
1
VX−VIMP1
0 VY−VIMP4
−1
−2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Time x 10
−6
1 CMOS transistors (but again template programming time is
wsfb
wwm1
0.5 wwm4
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Time x 10
−6
Figure 6. Processing sequence: self-feedback memristor mSF B is pro-
grammed conducting.
Figure 7 shows the same simulation with the difference
that mSF B is left into OFF state. Therefore, state node X
cannot be pulled HI through mSF B and the weak pulldown
path (transistor biased with Vbias1 ) pulls the state X to a LO
voltage. After that, the keeper is activated and locks node X
to the LO voltage. Therefore, the implication operation brings
m1 into a conducting state as can be observed from the simu-
lation. Therefore, the simulation successfully demonstrates the
capability of the cell to perform implication operations on a
programmable neighborhood.
The above example is a sequence of processing a B-
template (nonpropagating neighborhood logic operation). An
A-template (asynchronously propagating neighborhood logic
operation) can be run so that control signal AB is kept HI
during the transient and implication of the result is carried out
after the transient has settled.
V. C ONCLUSIONS
CMOS/memristor hybrids are not currently commercially
available. There are issues such as the number of write cycles,
writing speed, and mismatch/defects, that need to be improved.
However, memristors bear a promise of very high memory
density and wiring fabrics (that take no silicon area in CMOS
hybrids) making their development worth the while. This paper
demonstrates the use of memristors for constructing an ON-
OFF programmable CNN. The downside of the approach is
that programming of the templates becomes slower. The good
2
VX−VOUT
1
VX−VIMP1
0 VY−VIMP4
−1
−2
0 0.2 0.4
Time
0.6 0.8 1
−6
x 10
1
wsfb
wwm1
0.5 wwm4
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
−6
x 10
Figure 7. Processing sequence: self-feedback memristor mSF B is pro-
grammed nonconducting.
thing is that the neighborhood can be increased without adding
increased). A major benefit is that only 15 CMOS transis-
tors/cell are needed, making very dense arrays possible. Also,
space-dependent templates are available for use. Therefore,
the proposed cell is suited for applications that require large
neighborhoods and/or space dependent templates but in which
the templates do not need to be programmed very fast.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was funded by the Academy of Finland (131295),
Geta graduate school and Nokia Foundation.
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