MEMRISTOR

Ganesh Prabhakar P, Dept. of Telecommunication Engineering, MVJ College of Engineering

E-mail: ganes.prabhakar@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
MEMRISTOR- A groundbreaking breakthrough in fundamental electronics!! The
memristor, a microscopic component that can "remember" electrical states even when turned
off. Memristors are basically a fourth class of electrical circuit, joining the resistor, the
capacitor, and the inductor, that exhibit their unique properties primarily within the
nanoscale. Thus, a Memristors resistance varies according to a devices memristance function.
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.
The memristor--the functional equivalent of a synapse--could revolutionize circuit design.
Memristors circuits lead to ultra small PCs. These memristors can be used as either digital
switches or to build a new breed of analog devices. Memristors can be used in Signal
Processing, Arithmetic Processing, Pattern Comparison, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and
virtual reality etc.

WHAT IS IT?

Fig.1: Symbol of Memristor

A memristor ("memory resistor") is any of various kinds of passive two-terminal circuit

elements that maintain a functional relationship between the time integrals of current and
voltage. This function, called memristance, is similar to variable resistance. Specifically
engineered memristors provide controllable resistance, but such devices are not commercially
available. Other devices like batteries and varistors have memristance, but it does not
normally dominate their behavior.
The definition of the memristor is based solely on fundamental circuit variables, similarly
to the resistor, capacitor, and inductor. Unlike those three elements, which are allowed in
linear time-invariant or LTI system theory, memristors are nonlinear and may be described by
any of a variety of time-varying functions of net charge. There is no such thing as a generic
memristor. Instead, each device implements a particular function, wherein either the integral
of voltage determines the integral of current, or vice versa. A linear time-invariant memristor
is simply a conventional resistor. 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.

MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES
One of the key fabrication advantages of the crossbar architecture is that the structure is a
well ordered, periodic and simple structure. However, to achieve nanoscale resolutions the
standard lithography approaches are insufficient. The manufacturing techniques for the
nanoscale crossbar devices developed by Hewlett-Packard include nanoimprint lithography,
which uses a stamp-like structure with nanometre resolution to transfer a pattern of
nanoscale resolution to a substrate. Additional nanoscale fabrication approaches can include
self-assembly techniques in which a mixture of polymers or other materials can form periodic
structures on a surface based on processes of energy minimalization. These self-assembly
techniques can be used to form a periodic mask structure over a metal film which can act as a
resist to control removal of metal layers in regions not covered by the mask resulting in the
desired metal nanowires required for the crossbar structure.
But while the nanoscale fabrication approaches may be critical to high density memory
design, the problem of defects becomes more pronounced. In addition, compatibility with
conventional fabrication approaches will likely be necessary for mass production of
memristor based electronics. Several applications in pattern recognition and signal
processing, as detailed above, may in fact not yet require nanometre scale resolution to
provide competitive solutions and applications in robotics and artificial intelligence since in
these areas it is the reconfigurability of the memristor material rather than the scalability that
can provide the key benefits. Figs. 2 and 3 below illustrate a basic outline for one
possible fabrication procedure using the typical processes of film deposition, lithography,
and etching from semiconductor manufacture. In Fig. 2, a metal film, a p-doped polysilicon
layer, and an n-doped polysilicon layer are deposited on an oxidized Si wafer and a resist film
is coated and lithographically patterned followed by etching to form electrically isolated input
wiring columns of the crossbar. The p-type and n-type polysilicon layers are included
to establish a rectification layer which helps to avoid feedback within the crossbar
structure. As illustrated in Fig. 3, dielectric filler is deposited in the etched region followed by
planarization and a thin film deposition of TiO2/TiO2-x or other resistance
switching material. Output metal wiring perpendicular to the input wiring is then deposited
and patterned above the memristor material to complete the crossbar structure.

Fig.2: Memristor crossbar fabrication (1) Fig.3: Memristor crossbar fabrication(2)

ADVANTAGES OF MEMRISTOR

• Operating outside of 0’s and 1’s allows it to imitate brain functions.

• Have great data density.
• Innovating nanotechnology due to the fact that it performs better the smaller it is.
• Creating a Computer that never has to boot up.
• Combines the jobs of working memory and hard drives into one tiny device.
• Faster and less expensive than DRAM and Flash Memory.
• Allow digital cameras to take pictures with no delay in-betweens.
• As non-volatile memory, memristors do not consume power when idle.
APPLICATIONS OF MEMRISTOR

Arithmetic processing with memristors

Pattern comparison with memristors
Programmable signal filters with memristors
Memristors and artificial intelligence
Memristors and robotics
Memristors and virtual reality
Interconnecting nanoscale memristor crossbars with microelectronics
Signal processing with memristors

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.