MEMRISTORS

The Fourth Circuit Element

Scope
Origin of Memristors
Definition and Properties
Model of Memristors from HP Labs
Result and Simulations
Potential Applications
Conclusion and Future Research

Origin:
In 1960s generalizes
circuit theory to nonlinear systems

The four circuit quantities

(charge, current, voltage, and
magnetic flux) can be related to
each other in six ways.

Two quantities are covered by

basic physical laws, and three
are covered by known circuit
elements (resistor, capacitor,
and inductor).

In 1971 Leon Chua proposed the

Memristor, as a class of circuit

Definition:
Memristor is defined as an element
that relates flux and charge.

f q

Memristance value is computed as

d
M (q)
dq
and can be related to voltage current
relation as follows :
d / dt v(t )
M (q (t ))

dq / dt i (t )

Thus effectively it is a charge dependent

resistance

Symbol for a
Memristor

Analog

Memristors behave like a pipe whose diameter varies according to the amount and direction of the current
passing through it

Properties of Memristors
1. Flux Charge
Curve of a
Memristor
. Its -q curve is
monotonically increasing.
. The slope of the q curve
is called Memristance M
(q).
. Memristor is passive if and
only if Memristance is nonnegative. (M (q) 0).

2. CurrentVoltage
Curve of a
An important
fingerprint of a
Memristor
Memristor is the pinched hysteresis
current-voltage characteristics.
When the voltage then the current
and vice versa.
The pinched hysteresis loop shrinks
with the increase in the excitation
frequency.
Memristive Systems are defined

by :

where is the set of state

variables, and and are the current

Fig. The pinched hysteresis loop and the loop shrinking with the
increase in frequency .

Model of Memristors By H.P

Labs
In
2008, a team of HP Labs under R.Stanley Williams

claimed to have found Leon Chuas missing Memristor

based on the analysis of a thin film of titanium dioxide.
This film is sand-witched between two platinum contacts
and one side of is doped with oxygen vacancies.
The oxygen vacancies are positively charged ions.
Thus, there is a junction where one side is doped and
the other side is un-doped.

-x

Fig. Schematic of HP Memristor

where is the device length and is

the length of the doped region.

region doped with oxygen vacancies

In the region, the ratio between titanium atoms and oxygen atoms has been
altered such that there is less oxygen than in regular sample.
The resistance of the device when = will be designated as and when the
resistance will be designated as .

Resistance Naming
Convention

Effective Electrical Structure

of the HP Memristor

The effective behaviour of the structure can be represented as

equation:

v RON

q (t )
and Memristance as:M ( q (t )) R OFF . 1
2
D

ROFF- High Resistance State

RON- Low Resistance State
v- Mobility of dopants in the thin film

RON ROFF

Simulation Results

Fig. Structure of the SPICE model .

Fig. An input voltage applied to the Memristor.

Fig. Voltage across the capacitor which gives the internal state of the

Fig. Waveform of the current through the Memristor.

Fig. Current-versus-voltage curve for input frequency of 1 Hz.

Fig. Current-versus-voltage curve for input frequency of 1.5 Hz.

Fig. Current-versus-voltage curve for input frequency of 2 Hz.

Potential Benefits And

Applications
Has the capacity to remember the charge that flows
through it at a given point in time.
Would allow for a quicker boot up since information is not
lost when the device is turned off.
Uses less energy and produce less heat.
Conventional devices use only 0 and 1; Memristor can use
anything between 0 and 1 (0.3, 0.8, 0.5, etc.)
Faster than Flash memory.

Continued
By changing the speed and strength of the current, it
is possible to change the behavior of the device.
A fast and hard current causes it to act as a digital
device.
A soft and slow current causes it to act as an
analog device.

Provides greater resiliency and reliability when the

power is interrupted at data centers.
Density allows for more data to be stored.
As non-volatile memory, Memristors do not consume

Future Research
Memristor memories have already been developed and
the researchers at HP believe that they can offer a product
with a storage density of about 20 gigabytes per square
centimetre by 2013.
Camera can take days worth of video with storage the size
of an average thumb drive.
Pattern Recognition and Brain Mapping.
Could lead to replacement of Transistors.
Researchers have defined two new mem-devices MemCapacitors and Mem-Inductors thus generalising the
concept of memory to capacitors and inductors.

Thank
You!!
Effort's By:
Shubham Gupta (EN-F)
1202721090