MemristorsDan Shlyakhtin and Josh Kramer

Fast

Non-volatile High Density

SRAM

Flash

Cache

Current Memory

Flash 105-106 ns 105

SRAM 0.3 ns 1016

Access Time Write Endurance Non-Volatile

[4]

Fast

Non-volatile High Density

SRAM

Flash

Cache

Memristors

Current Memory

Flash 105-106 ns 105

SRAM 0.3 ns 1016

Memristor < 10 ns 1010

Access Time Write Endurance Non-Volatile

[4]

Leon Chua, UC Berkley - 1971

History

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[10]

How are memristors different?

Current vs. Sinusoidal voltage.

History

R. Stanley Williams, HP Labs• 1995 - Nanometer Crossbar Array• 2002 - Made aware of Chua's work• 2004 - Realized Chua's discovery matched theirs• 2006 - Built first reliable devices based on memristors• 2008 - Published Findings

HP's Crossbar array.

How does the switch work?Oxygen deficiencies in Tio2 act like positive "bubbles" that are repelled by the positive voltage and attracted by the negative.

Realization

SRAM RRAMHigher Density

o Memristor smaller than transistoro 1 memristor replaces 10 or 15 transistors

Non-volatileSlower

Fewer reads/writes[8]

Controversy

• Should a "basic device" be this complicated?

• Implementation doesn't use magnetic flux• Inductor thought experimentMemristor might not ever be discovered

Other Uses

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Analog storageof digital values

Other Uses

Material implication, a fundamental logical operation has been shown to be computable using memristors.

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Neural Computing

Memristors behave very similarly to the biological synapse and could allow for emulation of brain cell functionality without having to simulate every cell.

Other Uses

Conclusion

• Discovered by Chua in 1971• Realized by Williams at HP in 2008• Many uses besides RAM

o High-density storageo New basic binary operationso Neural Network emulation

Questions