The researchers at HP have developed a new way to perform logic Operations, making it possible to

fabricate much more advanced chips that would use memory devices in place of standard transistors.
As per the research, an array of memristors (150 atoms wide) can perform both logic and storage
operations.

The memristor is a device as fundamental as the resistor, inductor and capacitor, but is based on the
relationship between flux and charge, rather than between voltage and charge.

Memristors retain memory states even when no current is being passed through them and they can be
used not just as a memory device, but also to perform computations. That means computation could
be performed on chips where data is stored, rather than on a specialised processing unit. The current
gen computers link the processor and memory unit by a high-speed bus which introduces delays of
the order of few 100s of nanoseconds(assuming large data transfers). With the new Memristors, the
delay would theoretically be brought down to zero.

Instant-on PCs: As memristors retain memory in the absence of power, they would help creating the
computers that can power-on to the last state in split-seconds.

Building More Capable Mobile, Supercomputers: Apart from what is said, HP claims that within 5 years
memristor-based computing could be used to create handheld devices with 10 times the embedded
memory possible today, or to power supercomputers that could reach speeds faster than what Moore’s
Law suggests is possible using current technologies.

Memristors are more powerful and capable than what it may look like. They can behave as a digital as
well as analogue device which brings them a step closer to Human brain. Since our brains are made of
memristors, the floodgate is now open for commercialisation of computers that would compute like
human brains, much faster, which is a giant leap ahead of current Neumann architecture.

Advantages of Memristors over Solid State Semiconductors

Inherently, Memristors require less energy to operate, and are still faster than current solid-state
storage technologies including SSDs, flash memory. As they are not semiconductors, they are immune
to radiations. The problem with traditional silicon chips is that when the size gets too small, it gets
more prone to slightest radiations raising the error beyond tolerable limits. With Memristors, this
would be overcome, miniaturization would be much more easier and hence cheaper.

We don’t doubt the potential of memristors, they can bring out new possibilities. The only question is
when? HP claims that it has created architectures for memory chips using memristors, and believes
memristor-based devices could come to market “within the next few years”.

Nanoscale memristor is electronics' missing link

30 April 2008

US-based scientists have used nanoscale solid oxide films to create a new circuit element, a memristor, which
researchers have been hunting for almost four decades.   

The device could help to shrink silicon chips even further and spawn new types of memory storage that allow
computers to start without booting up. 

The memristor is designed so that its resistance to electricity flow depends on the amount of charge that has recently
passed through it. It works because its internal structure rearranges as charge flows. That makes it rather like a
resistor with memory - hence the contraction, 'memristor'.   

'This will launch a decade of research into solid-state chemistry, studying the connection between the movement of
ions in the solid state and electronics,' says project leader Stan Williams of Hewlett-Packard labs, California. 

Small wonder

As Williams explains, the working prototype is made of a five-nanometre thick film of titanium dioxide (TiO2),
sandwiched between platinum electrodes. The film is divided into two parts: a lower layer of pure titanium dioxide,
which has a very high resistance, and an upper layer of titanium oxide with positively-charged oxygen vacancies as
dopants in the structure. 

Applying a positive voltage to the upper platinum electrode drives some charged dopants into the lower layer. This re-
arrangement of the film's internal structure allows current to flow through. The dopants can also be pulled back into
the upper layer, gradually blocking current flow, though not exactly retracing the path by which current was switched
on. The current flow through the memristor therefore depends on the voltage applied across it in the past.   

'Memristor effects get stronger as you build smaller devices, because the dopants don't have as far to flow,' explains
Williams. Chip-makers hope to reduce the size of transistors down to a width or 'half-pitch' of 20nm. But Williams
says his team have already built memristors at 15nm half-pitch - and believe they can take that down to 4nm. The
team have also built hybrid circuits with arrays of transistors driving current through memristors. 
 The memristor is the fourth basic circuit element, with
memristance, M, defined as the rate of change of flux with
charge

© Nature
 
'The memristor might provide a new path onwards and downwards to ever greater processor density,' comments
chemist James Tour, of Rice University, Texas. He says the current-voltage behaviour of Williams' memristor
explains a host of puzzling effects researchers have seen in nanoscale electronics, in which changing internal
structure significantly alters the resistance of thin films. 'It turns out that people have been seeing and reporting these
effects for over 50 years, but didn't understand them,' Williams adds.   

Long search

The memristor's existence was first proposed in 1971 by the electrical engineer Leon Chua, who noticed that the
three traditional circuit elements which receive or store electricity (the resistor, capacitor and inductor) should logically
be joined by a fourth, which he christened the memristor, in order to fully connect the relationships between the basic
variables describing a circuit (charge, voltage, magnetic flux, and current). But no physical description of Chua's
suggestion had been obtained until now. 

'This is a real breakthrough by the Williams group, which will make a huge economic as well as scientific impact,'
Chua told Chemistry World. 'Everyone agrees that there will be no more room for improving transistor size within 10
years, so this is almost like a salvation that could extend Moore's law,' he adds, referring to the oft-quoted prediction
of Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, that the number of transistors crammed on to a chip would double roughly every
two years.

One application of the memristor, Williams hopes, could be to create a new type of ultradense non-volatile random
access memory (RAM); where bits are stored as the 'on' and 'off' states of a series of memristors. 'This means your
computer wouldn't have to boot up when you turn it on,' he says. Combining memristors in an architecture known as
a cross-bar latch can also emulate the workings of a transistor, though using different underlying physics. 'We're also
hoping to create some innovative logic applications, such as learning networks requiring a synapse-like function,'
Williams adds - though final applications will have to wait until a large-scale array of densely packed memristors is
proven to work.   

Richard Van Noorden 

(MEMory ResISTOR) A non-volatile memory technology that can change its resistance

in varying levels. It comprises a cell made of two layers of titanium dioxide, one of
which is conductive because it is missing a few oxygen atoms. When a positive charge
is applied to the layer with the missing atoms, the vacancies are pushed into the other
layer, making it conductive as well and changing its resistance. The more the cell is
charged, the lower its resistance. It can offer resistance in two states for a digital 0 or 1
or to levels in between to go beyond a binary system. Negative charges are used to
reverse the effect.

Very Fast and High Density

Two distinct advantages of memristors are that moving the vacancies between the
adjacent levels can be done much faster than other known switching methods, and the
cell density approaches that of hard disks. Theorized by Leon Chua in the early 1970s,
the first memristors were demonstrated by HP in 2008. If commercially viable,
memristors may replace flash memory and dynamic RAM (DRAM) in the future.
See future memory chips.

Article Options

HP and Hynix - Bringing the memristor to market in next-generation

memory
by ETHAN BAULEY (Ethan_Bauley) on 08-31-2010 09:59 PM - last edited on 08-31-2010 11:42 PM
Today, HP announced a
joint development
agreement with Hynix
Semiconductor Inc., to
develop a new kind of
computer memory – one
that will employ memristor
technology pioneered by
researchers at HP Labs.
 
This memory, called
ReRAM, holds the potential
to surpass Flash in terms
of affordability, total
capacity, speed, energy
efficiency, and endurance.
 
And its potential doesn’t
stop there.  “We believe
that the memristor is a
universal memory
technology that over time
could replace Flash,
DRAM, and even hard
drives,” says Stan
Williams, HP Senior Fellow
and founding Director of
the Information and
Quantum Systems Lab (IQSL).
 
But what is a memristor and how might it change the evolution of information
technology?
 
A short history on memristor
Previous to the prediction of the memristor by Prof. Leon Chua of UC Berkeley in 1971,
there were three recognized passive circuit elements:  the resistor, capacitor, and
inductor.  These three passive elements have provided the fundamental building blocks
on which all electronic circuits today are based.
 
HP’s demonstration that so-called ReRAM (resistive-RAM) devices were actually
memristors provided the mathematical foundation for completely new types of
electronics.
 
What is “Flash memory”?
Flash is a type of solid-state storage commonly used in mobile phones, mp3 players,
and some laptops (among other devices).
 
What is ReRAM?
The agreement between HP and Hynix will see them jointly developing memristor
technology in the form of Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM).  ReRAM is a
non-volatile memory built using materials that change resistance when a voltage is
applied across them.
 
“People have been attempting to make resistive memory for a long time,” explains
Williams. “But because they didn’t understand that the devices they had were
memristors, they weren’t making good progress.  Once you understand the
mathematical framework for memristors, you can design circuits that perform the way
they are intended to perform.”
 
What will be the first device using memristors?
In the near term, the most obvious application for memristor technology is as a
replacement for Flash memory.  “Memristor memory chips promise to run at least ten
times faster and use ten times less power than an equivalent Flash memory chip,” says
Williams.
 
Experiments in his lab also suggest that memristor memory can be erased and written
over many more times than flash memory.  And on top of that, says Williams, “we
believe we can create memristor ReRAM products that, at any price point, will have
twice the capacity of flash memory.”
 
What does this mean for my laptop or smartphone?
Memristors can retain information even when the power is off and are highly energy
efficient. This means that your laptop could boot up much faster and last longer on one
charge since it consumes less energy.  Given the number and sophistication of apps
running on smartphones, this should also significantly extend the usable time between
charges.
 
In the future, because both compute and memory functions could be conducted within
the same chip, this also means that laptops and smartphones could be much thinner
and much faster than they are now. (Why? Because data have less distance to travel
since memory and logic are performed on the same chip).
 

How does this benefit HP and open industry standards?

“Almost every product offered by HP uses memory in some fashion:  PC’s, phones,
printers, servers, storage, networking and so on,” notes Williams.  He suggests that the
company can use its unique insight into memristor to bring highly differentiated products
to market before its rivals.
 
At the same time, says Williams, HP isn’t planning to become a memory chip maker
itself, or to restrict the licensing of its memristor technology.
 
“Our long term goal,” he explains, “is to see this technology spread through the entire IT
ecosystem.”
What is the advantage of memristors?
Laboratory trials conducted at HP Labs have shown that memristor ReRAM circuits
require less energy to operate, are faster, and have higher endurance than Flash, and
these advantages are anticipated to increase into the future.
 
Since memristors are based on a thin film technology, the memory elements can be
easily stacked on top of each other, and thus more bits can be built onto a single chip.
They also are virtually immune to interference from ionizing radiation – making them
attractive for inclusion in ever-smaller but ever-more-powerful devices.
 
Still, the memristor is a relatively recent discovery and
new properties are yet to be found. 
 
Research from the HP Labs IQSL team published
earlier this year showed that, in addition to acting as
memory devices, memristors can also perform logic
functions. This suggests that computation might
eventually be performed where data is stored,
something that could result in computers running
significantly faster than at present since data will not have to be passed around among
multiple chips.
 
Are there potential future uses for memristors in ”artificial intelligence”?
Memristors fundamentally operate in a similar fashion as the biological synapses in the
human brain.
 
One potential application of memristor technology would be an 'artificial synapse' in a
circuit designed for analog computation.  Professor Leon Chua at the University of
Berkeley, who first postulated the memristor in 1971, is currently pursuing research in
this area.
 
“Professor Chua himself pointed out the connection between the properties of his
proposed memristor and those of a synapse in his earliest papers,” says Stan Williams,
HP Senior Fellow and Director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab, HP Labs.
“We also think that this is a very interesting and potentially valuable research direction.”
 
HP’s research has revived Chua’s own interest in memristors. He was
recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue the application of memristor
technology in artificial intelligence and neural computing.
 
 
Additional resources
“H.P. Reports Big Advance in Memory Chip Design,” by John Markoff, The New York Times, May 1, 2008 
 
“H.P. Sees a Revolution in Memory Chip,” by John Markoff, The New York Times, April 7, 2010.
 
Memristor images on Flickr
MEMRISTOR- A groundbreaking breakthrough in
fundamental electronics!!
71
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The missing-link in electronics,the memristor, that was proposed to exist 37 years ago by a man with
a vision, Dr.Leon Chua, was experimentally proven to exist this april 30th, at the HP labs by a team
of scientists under R.Stanley Williams.

Memristor, the fourth passive component type after-resistor, capacitor, and inductor- it "remembers"
changes in the current passing through it by changing its resistance. Now HP claims to have
discovered the first instance of a memristor, which it created with a bi-level titanium dioxide thin-film
that changes its resistance when current passes through it.

"This new circuit element solves many problems with circuitry today--since it improves in
performance as you scale it down to smaller and smaller sizes," said Chua. "Memristors will enable
very small nanoscale devices to be made without generating all the excess heat that scaling down
transistors is causing today.

HP has already tested the material in its ultra-high-density crossbar switches, which use nanowires
to pack a record 100 Gbits onto a single die--compared with 16 Gbits for the highest density flash
memory chips extant.
whats the big deal?
Why is MEMRISTOR a breakthrough? Because this element, allows data to be stored in
circuitry even after the power is switched off.so... well that will probably get you a PC that
switches ON and OFF like... eh ..say a BULB!! if that doesn't catch your imagination.... what
about a computer that downright simulates human thought..by actually copying our neural
pattern. just a few of the possible applications for the FOURTH BASIC ELEMENT IN
FUNDAMENTAL ELECTRONICS!.
 An image of a circuit with 17 memristors captured by an atomic force microscope. Each memristor is composed of
two layers of titanium dioxide connected by wire. As electrical current is applied to one layer, the small signal
resistance of the other l

The Theory
Memristor theory was formulated and named by Leon Chua in a 1971 paper, Chua strongly believed
that a fourth device existed to provide conceptual symmetry with the resistor, inductor, and
capacitor. A device linking charge and flux (themselves defined as time integrals of current and
voltage), which would be the memristor.
More Applications.
This invention has been already called a major breakthrough in the electronic world. It has a huge
potential in electronics, meaning that no RAM will be needed - the memory will be a part of the
circuitry rather than a separate module; this will save valuable space and it can give new possibilities
and advantages!While memory modules will no longer be needed, all saved space can be used to
make devices more compact and powerful. In addition, the potential energy savings, offered by
using such elements as memristors, will dramatically improve battery life of portable devices.

HP labs were quoted as saying ""We are already designing new types of circuits in both the digital
and analog domains using our crossbar architecture. In the analog domain, we want to build
 memristor-based devices that operate in a manner similar to how the synapse works in the brain--
neuron-like analog computational elements that could perform control functions where decisions
must be made involving comparisons as to whether something is larger or smaller than something
else. We are not building a neural network yet, but we think that using the memristor in its analog
mode with our crossbar is a pretty good representation of a neural net."
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1. A SEMINAR REPORT ON MEMRISTOR MAHARANA PRATAP ENGINEERING COLLEGE KOTHI

MANDHANA, KANPUR Session : 2009-2010 Staff Counselor: Submitted by: DEPARTMENT OF MANGAL DAS
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION HIMANSHU RAMCHANDANI ENGINEERING E.C- IV yr. 1

2. CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Mr. Mangal Das and Mr. Himanshu Ramchandani of E.C. Final Year have
submitted their seminar report on Memristor under the guidance of Electronics Engineering Department. This seminar report is
partial fulfillment of their B.Tech course from Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow. Er. PRIYANKA BAWA Er.
SUDHA PANDEY (SEMINAR GUIDE) (SEMINAR GUIDE) 2

3. ABSTRACT Typically electronics has been defined in terms of three fundamental elements such as resistors,
capacitors and inductors. These three elements are used to define the four fundamental circuit variables which are electric current,
voltage, charge and magnetic flux. Resistors are used to relate current to voltage, capacitors to relate voltage to charge, and
inductors to relate current to magnetic flux, but there was no element which could relate charge to magnetic flux. To overcome
this missing link, scientists came up with a new element called Memristor. These Memristor has the properties of both a memory
element and a resistor (hence wisely named as Memristor). Memristor is being called as the fourth fundamental component,
hence increasing the importance of its innovation. Its innovators say “memrisrors are so significant that it would be mandatory to
re- write the existing electronics engineering textbooks.” 3

4. CONTENTS 1. Acknowledgement 5 2. Introduction. 6 3. Fundamental Elements of Electronics. 7 4. The Missing

Element: Memristor 14 5. Memristor Theory and Properties 16 6. Delay in Discovery of Memristor. 21 7. Working of Memristor
23 8. Analogous System 25 9. Potential Applications 26 10. New Horizons 28 11. Conclusion 29 12. Bibliography 30
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would like to express our immense gratitude to all those who have directly or indirectly helped us
in completing our seminar on Memristor. I would like to thank them for their effective guidance & kind cooperation without
which we would not have been able to introduce a good presentation and complete this seminar report. We would like to thank
the faculty members of Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering for their permission grant, constant reminders
and much needed motivation, which helped us to extract maximum knowledge from the available sources. 4

5. Lastly, my sincere thanks to all our friends for their coordination in completion of this seminar report. Mangal Das
Himanshu Ramchandnai (E.C. 4th Year ) INTRODUCTION Generally when most people think about electronics, they may
initially think of products such as cell phones, radios, laptop computers, etc. others, having some engineering background, may
think of resistors, capacitors, etc. which are the basic components necessary for electronics to function. Such basic components
are fairly limited in number and each having their own characteristic function. 5
6. Memristor theory was formulated and named by Leon Chua in a 1971 paper. Chua strongly believed that a fourth
device existed to provide conceptual symmetry with the resistor, inductor, and capacitor. This symmetry follows from the
description of basic passive circuit elements as defined by a relation between two of the four fundamental circuit variables. A
device linking charge and flux (themselves defined as time integrals of current and voltage), which would be the Memristor, was
still hypothetical at the time. However, it would not be until thirty-seven years later, on April 30, 2008, that a team at HP Labs
led by the scientist R. Stanley Williams would announce the discovery of a switching Memristor. Based on a thin film of titanium
dioxide, it has been presented as an approximately ideal device. The reason that the Memristor is radically different from the
other fundamental circuit elements is that, unlike them, it carries a memory of its past. When you turn off the voltage to the
circuit, the Memristor still remembers how much was applied before and for how long. That's an effect that can't be duplicated by
any circuit combination of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, which is why the Memristor qualifies as a fundamental circuit
element. The arrangement of these few fundamental circuit components form the basis of almost all of the electronic devices we
use in our everyday life. Thus the discovery of a brand new fundamental circuit element is something not to be taken lightly and
has the potential to open the door to a brand new type of electronics. HP already has plans to implement Memristors in a new
type of non-volatile memory which could eventually replace flash and other memory systems. FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS
OF ELECTRONICS 1 .RESISTOR 6

7. A resistor is a two-terminal electronic component that produces a voltage across its terminals that is proportional to the
electric current through it in accordance with Ohm's law which states “Voltage (V) across a resistor is proportional to the current
(I) through it where the constant of proportionality is the resistance (R)”. V = IR Electronic symbol (Europe) (US) Resistors are
elements of electrical networks and electronic circuits and are ubiquitous in most electronic equipment. Practical resistors can be
made of various compounds and films, as well as resistance wire (wire made of a high-resistivity alloy, such as nickel/chrome).
The primary characteristics of a resistor are the resistance, the tolerance, maximum working voltage and the power rating. Other
characteristics include temperature coefficient, noise, and inductance. Less well-known is critical resistance, the value below
which power dissipation limits the maximum permitted current flow, and above which the limit is applied voltage. Critical
resistance depends upon the materials constituting the resistor as well as its physical dimensions; it's determined by design.
Resistors can be integrated into hybrid and printed circuits, as well as integrated circuits. Size, and position of leads (or terminals)
are relevant to equipment designers; resistors must be physically large enough not to overheat when dissipating their power. 7

8. COLOUR CODING OF RESISTOR Four-band identification is the most commonly used color-coding scheme on
resistors. It consists of four colored bands that are painted around the body of the resistor. The first two bands encode the first
two significant digits of the resistance value, the third is a power-of-ten multiplier or number-of-zeroes, and the fourth is the
tolerance accuracy, or acceptable error, of the value. Each color corresponds to a certain digit, progressing from darker to lighter
colors, as shown in the chart below For example, green-blue-yellow-red is 56×104 Ω = 560 kΩ ± 2%. An easier description can
be as followed: the first band, green, has a value of 5 and the second band, blue, has a value of 6, and is counted as 56. The third
band, yellow, has a value of 104, which adds four 0's to the end,creating 560,000Ω at ±2% tolerance accuracy. 560,000Ω changes
to 560 kΩ ±2% (as a kilos 103). 8

9. 2. CAPACITOR A capacitor or condenser is a passive electronic component consisting of a pair of conductors

separated by a dielectric. When a voltage potential difference exists between the conductors, an electric field is present in the
dielectric. This field stores energy and produces a mechanical force between the plates. The effect is greatest between wide, flat,
parallel, narrowly separated conductors. An ideal capacitor is characterized by a single constant value, capacitance, which is
measured in farads. This is the ratio of the electric charge on each conductor to the potential difference between them. In practice,
the dielectric between the plates passes a small amount of leakage current. The conductors and leads introduce an equivalent
series resistance and the dielectric has an electric field strength limit resulting in a breakdown voltage. Capacitors are widely used
in electronic circuits to block the flow of direct current while allowing alternating current to pass, to filter out interference, to
smooth the output of power supplies, and for many other purposes. They are used in resonant circuits in radio frequency
equipment to select particular frequencies from a signal with many frequencies. ELECTRONIC SYMBOL 9
10. CURRENT-VOLTAGE RELATION The current i (t ) through a component in an electric circuit is defined as the rate
of change of the charge q (t ) that has passed through it. Physical charges cannot pass through the dielectric layer of a capacitor,
but rather build up in equal and opposite quantities on the electrodes: as each electron accumulates on the negative plate, one
leaves the positive plate. Thus the accumulated charge on the electrodes is equal to the integral of the current, as well as being
proportional to the voltage (as discussed above). As with any antiderivative, a constant of integration is added to represent the
initial voltage v (t0). This is the integral form of the capacitor equation, . Taking the derivative of this, and multiplying by C,
yields the derivative form, . The dual of the capacitor is the inductor, which stores energy in the magnetic field rather than the
electric field. Its current-voltage relation is obtained by exchanging current and voltage in the capacitor equations and replacing C
with the inductance L. 10

11. 3. INDUCTOR An inductor or a reactor is a passive electrical component that can store energy in a magnetic field
created by the electric current passing through it. An inductor's ability to store magnetic energy is measured by its inductance, in
units of henries. Typically an inductor is a conducting wire shaped as a coil, the loops helping to create a strong magnetic field
inside the coil due to Faraday's law of induction. Inductors are one of the basic electronic components used in electronics where
current and voltage change with time, due to the ability of inductors to delay and reshape alternating currents Inductance (L)
(measured in henries) is an effect resulting from the magnetic field that forms around a current-carrying conductor that tends to
resist changes in the current. Electric current through the conductor creates a magnetic flux proportional to the current. A change
in this current creates a change in magnetic flux that, in turn, by Faraday's law generates an electromotive force (EMF) that acts
to oppose this change in current. Inductance is a measure of the amount of EMF generated for a unit change in current. For
example, an inductor with an inductance of 1 henry produces an EMF of 1 volt when the current through the inductor changes at
the rate of 1 ampere per second. The number of loops, the size of each loop, and the material it is wrapped around all affect the
inductance. 11

12. An inductor opposes changes in current. An ideal inductor would offer no resistance to a constant direct current;
however, only superconducting inductors have truly zero electrical resistance. In general, the relationship between the time-
varying voltage v(t) across an inductor with inductance L and the time-varying current i(t) passing through it is described by the
differential equation: . Inductors are used extensively in analog circuits and signal processing. Inductors in conjunction with
capacitors and other components form tuned circuits which can emphasize or filter out specific signal frequencies. Applications
range from the use of large inductors in power supplies, which in conjunction with filter capacitors remove residual hums known
as the Mains hum or other fluctuations from the direct current output, to the small inductance of the ferrite bead or torus installed
around a cable to prevent radio frequency interference from being transmitted down the wire. Smaller inductor/capacitor
combinations provide tuned circuits used in radio reception and broadcasting. Two (or more) inductors which have coupled
magnetic flux form a transformer, which is a fundamental component of every electric utility power grid. The efficiency of a
transformer may decrease as the frequency increases due to eddy currents in the core material and skin effect on the windings.
Size of the core can be decreased at higher frequencies and, for this reason, aircraft use 400 hertz alternating current rather than
the usual 50 or 60 hertz, allowing a great saving in weight from the use of smaller transformers. An inductor is used as the energy
storage device in some switched-mode power supplies. The inductor is energized for a specific fraction of the regulator's
switching frequency, and de-energized for the remainder of the cycle. This energy transfer ratio determines the input-voltage to
output- voltage ratio. This XL is used in complement with an active semiconductor device to maintain very accurate voltage
control. Inductors are also employed in electrical transmission systems, where they are used to depress voltages from lightning
strikes and to limit switching currents and fault current. In this field, they are more commonly referred to as reactors. Larger
value inductors may be simulated by use of gyrator circuits. 12

13. Fig: An inductor with two 47mH windings, as may be found in a power supply THE MISSING LINK : There are six
different mathematical relations connecting pairs of four fundamental circuit variables viz. current I, voltage v, charge q, and
magnetic flux Φ. One of these relation (the charge is time integral of current) is determined from the definition of two of the
variables and another (the flux is the timeintegral of the electromotive force or voltage) is determined from faraday’s law of
induction. Thus there should be four basic circuit elements described by the remaining relation between the variables . The
 relation between these fundamental elements can be shown as : RESISTORS (v=Ri) Voltage Current (v) (i) (v=dΦ/dt) (i=dq/dt)
INDUCTORS CAPACITORS (q=Cv) Φ=Li ? Charge Flux (q) (Φ) ? 13

14. The relation between the charge and the flux was unknown, and so the device which describes it. This led to the
discovery of the fourth fundamental element which describes the above missing relation between Charge And Flux. THE 4TH
NEW FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT : MEMRISTOR Memristor is one of four basic electrical circuit components, joining the
resistor, capacitor, and inductor. The Memristor, short for “memory resistor” was first theorized by student Leon Chua in the
early 1970s. He developed mathematical equations to represent the Memristor, which Chua believed would balance the functions
of the other three types of circuit elements. Since, there is no proof of any practical device which shows memristance, according
to Chua’s paper In the beginning of 2006, the group of researchers headed by R.Stanley Williams at HP labs, developed a simple
model of binary switch based on the coupled movement of both charge dopants and electrons in the semiconductor and saw that
the defining equations for this switch were identical to Chua’s mathematical definitions of memristor and they were able to write
down a defining equation for memristance of this device interms of its physical and geometric properties 14

15. MEMRISTOR FIG: A CROSSBAR ARRAY OF MEMRISTOR NEED OF MEMRISTOR The known three
fundamental circuit elements as resistor, capacitor and inductor relates four fundamental circuit variables as electric current,
voltage, charge and magnetic flux. In that we were missing one element to relate charge to magnetic flux. That is where the need
for the fourth fundamental element comes in. This element has been named as MEMRISTOR. 15

16. Chua’s. Theory o Each Memristor is characterized by its memristance function describing the charge- dependent rate
of change of flux with charge. 16 MEMRISTANCE o Memristance is a property of an electronic component to retain its
resistance level even after power had been shut down or lets it remember (or recall) the last resistance it had before being shut
off.  Chua defined the element as a resistor whose resistance level was based on the amount of charge that had passed through
the Memristor  Electronic Symbol  Definition of Memristor o “The Memristor is formally defined as a two-terminal element
in which the magnetic flux Φm between the terminals is a function of the amount of electric charge q that has passed through the
device.” FIG: RELATION BETWEEN ALL FOUR FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF ELECTRONICS MEMRISTOR:
THEORY AND PROPERTIES

17. CURRENT VS. VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS o This new circuit element shares many of the properties of
resistors and shares the same unit of measurement (ohms). However, in contrast to ordinary resistors, in which the resistance is
permanently fixed, memristance may be programmed or switched to different resistance states based on the history of the voltage
applied to the memristance material. This phenomena can be understood graphically in terms of the relationship between the
current flowing through a Memristor and the voltage applied across the Memristor. o In ordinary resistors there is a linear
relationship between current and voltage so that a graph comparing current and voltage results in a straight line. However, for
Memristors a similar graph is a little more complicated. It illustrates the current vs. voltage behavior of memristance. 17 This
equation reveals that memristance defines a linear relationship between current and voltage, as long as charge does not vary. Of
course, nonzero current implies instantaneously varying charge. Alternating current, however, may reveal the linear dependence
in circuit operation by inducing a measurable voltage without net charge movement—as long as the maximum change in q does
not cause much change in M.  V(t) = M(q(t))*I(t)  As we know from, Faraday's law of induction that magnetic flux is simply
the time integral of voltage, and charge is the time integral of current, we may write the more convenient o It can be inferred from
this that memristance is simply charge-dependent resistance. . i.e. , o

18. Current vs. Voltage curve demonstrating hysteretic effects of memristance. o In contrast to the straight line expected
from most resistors the behavior of a Memristor appear closer to that found in hysteresis curves associated with magnetic
materials. As observed above that two straight line segments are formed within the curve. These two straight line curves may be
interpreted as two distinct resistance states with the remainder of the curve as transition regions between these two states.
HYSTERESIS MODEL Hysteresis model illustrates an idealized resistance behavior demonstrated in accordance with above
curretnt- voltage characteristic wherein the linear regions correspond to a relatively high resistance (RH) and low resistance (RL)
and the transition regions are represented by straight lines. 18
19. Fig: Idealized hysteresis model of resistance vs. voltage for memristance switch. Thus for voltages within a threshold
region (-VL2<V<VL1 in Fig. 4) either a high or low resistance exists for the Memristor. For a voltage above threshold VL1 the
resistance switches from a high to a low level and for a voltage of opposite polarity above threshold VL2 the resistance switches
back to a high resistance. THE UNIQUE FEATURE: SELF PROGRAMMING Stanley found an interesting feature of memristor
that it can Re-program itself according to its previous state for a given output. This feature is revolution in the programming field
of modern era. To verify their statement, they have done a experiment which was related to programming of memristors. The
specifications of their experiment, which proved the fact about re-programming, is described by an example. 19

20. Fig: Programmed memristor map and transistor interconnections. In this figure, “A” shows equivalent circuit schematic
of the hybrid programmable logic array. The dashed lines define the nanocrossbar boundary, the black dots are the programmed
memristors, VA through VD are the 4 digital voltage inputs and VOUT is the output voltage. V1 and V2 are the transistor power
supply voltage inputs. A single nanowire has a resistance of ≈33 kΩ, and 4 connected in series provides a ≈130-kΩ on-chip load
resistor for a transistor. Figure “B” illustrates the map of the conductance of the memristors in the crossbar. The straight lines
represent the continuous nanowires, and their colors correspond to those of the circuit in A. The broken nanowires are the
missing black lines in the array. The squares display the logarithm of the current througheach memristor at a 0.5-V bias. The
above figure is the equivalent circuit for testing the compound logic operation . This circuit computes AB+CD from 4 digital
voltage inputs, VA to VD, representing the 4 input values A to D, respectively. The operations AB and CD are performed on 2
different rows in the crossbar, and the results are output to inverting transistors, which then restore the signal amplitudes and send
voltages corresponding to NOT(AB) and NOT(CD), or equivalently A NAND B and C NAND D and denoted using Boolean
algebra as AB and CD, respectively, back onto the same column of the crossbar. There, the operation AB X CD is performed and
the result is sent to another inverting transistor, which outputs the result AB X CD = AB + CD = AB + CD, following from De
Morgan’s Law, as an output voltage level on VOUT. The signal path is emphasized by the thick coloured lines red–blue– green
from the inputs to the output. In red, 2 programmed-ON memristors are linked to a transistor gate to perform as a NAND logic
gate with the inputs VA and VB in one operation or VC and VD in the other. In blue, the outputs from the first 2 logic gates are
then connected to the second stage NAND gate formed from 2 other programmed-ON memristors and 1 transistor. The green line
shows the output voltage.This experiment began with the configuration of the array.The conductivity of all of the crossbar
nanowires was measured by making external connections with a probe station to the contact pads at the ends of the fanout wires
connected to each nanowire, and those that were not broken or otherwise defective are shown as straight black or coloured lines.
Each required programmed-ON memristor was configured by externally applying a voltage pulse of +4.5 V across its contacting
nanowires, whereas all other memristors in the row and column of the target junction were held at 4.5/2 = 2.25 V, a voltage well
below the effective threshold such that those junctions were not accidentally programmed ON. 20

21. DELAY IN DISCOVERY OF MEMRISTOR Memristor, was not been seen before because the effect depends on
atomic-scale movements, it only poped up on the nanoscale of William’s devices. Information can be written into the material as
the resistance state of the memristor in a few nanoseconds using few picojoules of energy-“ as good as anything needs to be”.
THE COUPLED VARIABLE-RESISTOR MODEL FOR A MEMRISTOR 21

22. Applied voltage and resulting current as a function of time t for a typical memristor The equation given below
describes the memristance of any device as a function of charge : where M(q) = Memristance of a device as a function of charge
Roff = High resistance state Ron = Low resistance state µv = Mobility of charge q(t) = Charge flowing thorgh device at any time
t 22 The Diagram with a simplified equivalent circuit. V, voltmeter; A, ammeter. 

23. D = Thickness of semiconductor film sandwiched between two metal conatcts For any material, this term is 1,000,000
times larger in absolute values at nanometer scale then is at micrometer scale because of factor 1/D2 and memristance is
correspondingly more significant. So it was not possible to get the feel of memristance at millimeter scale, that is why it took 30
years to discover this nanoscale component. Fig: A MEMRISTOR AT NANOSCALE WORKING OF MEMRISTOR
Semiconductors are doped to make them either p-type or n-type. For example, if silicon is doped with arsenic, it become n-type.
However, when we apply an electric field to piece of n-type silicon, the ionized arsenics atoms sitting inside the silicon lattice
will not move. We do not want them to move, in any case. Pure titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is also a semiconductor, has high
 resistance, just as in the case of intrinsic silicon, and it can also be doped to make it conducting. If an oxygen atom, which is
negatively charged, is removed from its substantial site in TiO2, a positively charged oxygen vacancy is created(V0+) is created ,
which act as a donor of electrons. These positively 23

24. charged oxygen vacancies (V0+) can be in the direction of current applying electric field. Taking advantage of this
ionic transport, a sandwich of thin conducting and non-conducting layers of TiO2 was used to release memristor Fig : Conduction
mechanism in a memristor (a) Broader electronic barrier when a negative potential is applied to electrode A (b) Thin electronic
barrier when a positive potential is applied to electrode A Consider, we have two thin layers of TiO2, one highly conducting layer
with lots of oxygen vacancies(V0+ ) and the other layer undoped, which is highly resistive. Suppose that good ohmic contact are
formed using platinum electrodes on either side of sandwich of TiO2 . the electronics barrier between the undoped TiO2 and the
metal looks broader. The situation remains the same, even when a negative potential I applied to electrode A, because the
positively charged oxygen vacancies(V0+) are attracted towards electrode A and the length of undoped region increases. Under
these conditions the electronics barrier at the undoped TiO2 and the metal is still too wide and it will be difficult for the electrons
to cross over the barrier. However, when a positive potential is applied at electrode A the positively charged oxygen vacancies
are repelled and moved into the undoped TiO2. This ionic movement towards electrode B reduces the length of undoped region.
When more positively charged oxygen vacancies(V0+) reach the TiO2 metal interface, the potential barrier for the electrons
become very narrow, as shown, making tunneling through the barrier a real possibility. This leads to a large current flow, making
the device turn ON. In this case, the positively charged oxygen vacancies (V0+) are present across the length of device. When the
polarity of the applied voltage is reversed, the oxygen vacancies can be pushed back into their original place on the doped side,
restoring the broader electronic barrier at TiO2 metal interface. This forces the device to turn OFF due to an increase in the
resistance of the device and reduce possibility for carrier tunneling . 24

25. The speciality of Memristor is not just that it can be turned OFF or ON, but, that it can actually remember the previous
state. This is because when the applied bias is removed, the positively charged Ti ions (which are actually the oxygen deficient
sites) do not move anymore, making the boundary between the doped and undoped layers TiO2 immobile. When we next apply a
bias (positive or neagtive ) to the device , it starts from where it was left. Unlike in the case of typical semoconductors, such as
silicon in which only mobile carrier moves, in the case of memristor bith the ionic and the electron movement, into the undoped
TiO2 and out of undoped TiO2 are responsible for the hysterisis in its cuurent-coltage charactericstic ANALOGOUS SYSTEM
In William switches, the upper resistor was made of pure semiconductor, and the lower of the oxygen-deficient material metal.
Applying a voltage to the device pushes charged bubbles up from the metal, radically reducing the semiconductor’s resisitance
and making it into a full-blown conductor. A voltage applied in the other direction starts the merry-go-round revolving the other
way: the bubbles drain back into the lower layer, and the upper layer reverts to a high resistance, semiconducting state. 25

26. The pipe, when the current is switched on again, remembers what current has flowed through it. 26 The diameter of
pipe remains same when the current is switched off, until it is switched on again. The crucial thing is that, every time when the
voltage is switched off, the merry-go-round stops and the resistance is frozen. When the voltage is switched on again, the system
“remembers” where it was, waking up in the same resistance state. The analogous system of memory resistor or “memristor” is
perfectly explained, assuming that memristor behaves like a pipe whose diameter varies according to the amount and direction of
current passing through it. FIG: A RESISTOR WITH MEMORY BEHAVES LIKE A PIPE

27. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS 1. NANO-SCALE NATURE The main objective in the electronic chip design is to
move computing beyond the physical and fiscal limits of conventional silicon chips. For decades, increases in chip performance
have come about largely by putting more and more transistors on a circuit. Higher densities, however, increase the problems of
heat generation and defects and affect the basic physics of the devices. Instead of increasing the number of transistors on a circuit,
we could create a hybrid circuit with fewer transistors but with the addition of Memristors which could add functionality.
Alternately, Memristor technologies could enable more energy-efficient high-density circuits. Memristor, was not been seen
before because the effect depends on atomic-scale movements, it only poped up on the nanoscale of William’s devices.
Information can be written into the material as the resistance state of the memristor in a few nanoseconds using few picojoules of
energy-“ as good as anything needs to be”. And once written memory stays written even when the power is shut. 2.
 REPLACEMENT OF FLASH MEMORY The important potential use of memristor is as a powerful replacement for flash
memory- the kind used in applications thet require quick writing and rewriting capabilities, such as in cameras and USB memory
sticks. Like flash memory, memristiev memory can only be written 10,000 times or so before the constant atomic movements
within the device cause it to break down. It is possible to improve the durability of memristors. 3. REPLACEMENT FOR DRAM
Computers using conventional D-RAM lack the ability to retain information once they are turned off. When power is restored to
a D-RAM-based computer, a slow, energy-consuming "boot-up" process is necessary to retrieve data stored on a magnetic disk
required to run the system. the reason computers have to be rebooted every time they are turned on is that their logic circuits are
incapable of holding their bits after the power is shut off. But because a Memristor can remember voltages, a Memristor-driven
computer would arguably never need a reboot. “You could leave all your Word 27

28. files and spreadsheets open, turn off your computer, and go get a cup of coffee or go on vacation for two weeks 4.
BRAIN-LIKE SYSTEMS As for the human brain-like characteristics, Memristor technology could one day lead to computer
systems that can remember and associate patterns in a way similar to how people do. This could be used to substantially improve
facial recognition technology or to provide more complex biometric recognition systems that could more effectively restrict
access to personal information. These same pattern-matching capabilities could enable appliances that learn from experience and
computers that can make decisions. It is observed that the complex electrical response of synapses to the ebb and flow of
potassium and sodium ions across the membrance of eeach cell which allows thw synapses to alter their respose according to the
frequency and strength of the signals. It looked maddeningly similar to the response a memristor would produce. FIG: NEURAL
NETWORKS 28

29. NEW HORIZONS : After the discovery of memristor the authors have taken a new step towards the new devices with
properties like memristor. There are two such elements which were next discovered : 1. MEMCAPACITOR 2.
MEMINDUCTOR The memcapacitor meminductor are the memdevices in which the capacitance and inductance respectively
depends on the state and history of the system. They show pinched hysteresis loop in the constitutive variables that define them:-
Charge-voltage for Memcapaciatnce Current –flux for Meminductance The difference between the Memristor and both these
devices is that they store energy whereas memristor cannot. MEMCAPACITOR MEMINDUCTOR 29

30. CONCLUSION By redesigning certain types of circuits to include Memristors, it is possible to obtain the same
function with fewer components, making the circuit itself less expensive and significantly decreasing its power consumption. In
fact, it can be hoped to combine Memristors with traditional circuit-design elements to produce a device that does computation.
The Hewlett-Packard (HP) group is looking at developing a Memristor-based nonvolatile memory that could be 1000 times faster
than magnetic disks and use much less power. As rightly said by Leon Chua and R.Stanley Williams (originators of Memristor),
“Memrisrors are so significant that it would be mandatory to re-write the existing Electronics Engineering textbooks”. 30

31. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. WWW.GOOGLE.COM 2. WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM 3. WWW.HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM 4.

LEON CHUA’S PAPER, 1971 5. HTTP://WWW.MEMRISTOR.ORG/ 31