jdbnsn
12-10-2008, 08:24 PM
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The Memristor
Bootup times too slow? Battery life too short? Tired of primitive things like moving parts? The future is here, and it’s called the memristor.
Memristors are a newly-discovered fourth fundamental circuit, joining the resistor, capacitor and inductor. Unlike these circuits, a memristor (short for memory resistor) is able to store data without the need for power or moving parts. Sound like flash memory? It is, but only in that way. Memristors can store data more densely than today’s hard drives and access it as quickly as standard DRAM memory, while using less power than either.
They can also function in either a digital mode, designating 0 and 1 by low or high resistance or analog mode, designating a value between 0 and 1 by a more specific resistance. These in-between values actually grow each time a memristor cell receives electrical input, much like the way neurons in the human brain build stronger memories the more they are utilized. Thus, as patterns emerge and the data in these fields is continuously refined, a memristor can actually “learn”.
The properties of the memristor make it not only the perfect replacement for today’s RAM, allowing for instant bootup (since the data that was being utilized at the time the computer was shut down is stored exactly as it was), but as the technology advances it will also replace today’s magnetic-storage hard drives. Imagine a machine with a single piece of solid-state memory that fills both of these functions simultaneously, with vastly faster data retrieval and minimal power usage. The speed and density of the memristor also make data redundancy a much simpler task than today’s RAID arrays. As small and as fast as these are certain to be, there is no reason a memristor-based computer of any sort couldn’t store its data many times on many chips simultaneously, preventing data loss in the event of hardware failure. Think of it as the ultimate RAID 1 setup.
The memristor even promises to affect the modern CPU. Given its ability to “learn” over time in its analog capacity, people like Stanley Williams, director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at HP, see the possibility of a CPU that utilizes both the transistors we use today and memristors alongside them, taking advantage of the binary nature of each as well as the analog potential in the memristor to work together to make a faster and more efficient processing machine.
Although the first stable prototype memristor was only recently created at HP Labs, the existence of the elusive “missing link” of electronic circuit theory was postulated in 1971 by a UC Berkeley Professor named Leon Chua. Chua described and named the memristor, arguing for its inclusion with the other basic circuits because the memristor had properties that could not be duplicated by combining the other three. Chua discovered the memristor mathematically, much like most of the discoveries in particle physics, and the process was much the same, as Chua proposed the existence of the fourth circuit and then set about finding it. It was only with advancements in nanotechnology that a stable memristor could be produced and measured.
The future of technology is fascinating, and always holds surprises, but rarely is something this fundamental discovered (or proven, as I’m sure Dr. Chua would say), that holds the very real potential to revolutionize the microelectronics industry. Thanks to advancements in microprocessors and other nanotechnologies, the basic manufacturing tools and technologies for the memristor are already in place. From faster computers to larger and more reliable data storage to machines that think and learn on their own, the memristor holds the promise of a new age of technological advancement. Remember what happened when the transistor replaced the vacuum tube?
-blueonblack
The Memristor
Bootup times too slow? Battery life too short? Tired of primitive things like moving parts? The future is here, and it’s called the memristor.
Memristors are a newly-discovered fourth fundamental circuit, joining the resistor, capacitor and inductor. Unlike these circuits, a memristor (short for memory resistor) is able to store data without the need for power or moving parts. Sound like flash memory? It is, but only in that way. Memristors can store data more densely than today’s hard drives and access it as quickly as standard DRAM memory, while using less power than either.
They can also function in either a digital mode, designating 0 and 1 by low or high resistance or analog mode, designating a value between 0 and 1 by a more specific resistance. These in-between values actually grow each time a memristor cell receives electrical input, much like the way neurons in the human brain build stronger memories the more they are utilized. Thus, as patterns emerge and the data in these fields is continuously refined, a memristor can actually “learn”.
The properties of the memristor make it not only the perfect replacement for today’s RAM, allowing for instant bootup (since the data that was being utilized at the time the computer was shut down is stored exactly as it was), but as the technology advances it will also replace today’s magnetic-storage hard drives. Imagine a machine with a single piece of solid-state memory that fills both of these functions simultaneously, with vastly faster data retrieval and minimal power usage. The speed and density of the memristor also make data redundancy a much simpler task than today’s RAID arrays. As small and as fast as these are certain to be, there is no reason a memristor-based computer of any sort couldn’t store its data many times on many chips simultaneously, preventing data loss in the event of hardware failure. Think of it as the ultimate RAID 1 setup.
The memristor even promises to affect the modern CPU. Given its ability to “learn” over time in its analog capacity, people like Stanley Williams, director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab at HP, see the possibility of a CPU that utilizes both the transistors we use today and memristors alongside them, taking advantage of the binary nature of each as well as the analog potential in the memristor to work together to make a faster and more efficient processing machine.
Although the first stable prototype memristor was only recently created at HP Labs, the existence of the elusive “missing link” of electronic circuit theory was postulated in 1971 by a UC Berkeley Professor named Leon Chua. Chua described and named the memristor, arguing for its inclusion with the other basic circuits because the memristor had properties that could not be duplicated by combining the other three. Chua discovered the memristor mathematically, much like most of the discoveries in particle physics, and the process was much the same, as Chua proposed the existence of the fourth circuit and then set about finding it. It was only with advancements in nanotechnology that a stable memristor could be produced and measured.
The future of technology is fascinating, and always holds surprises, but rarely is something this fundamental discovered (or proven, as I’m sure Dr. Chua would say), that holds the very real potential to revolutionize the microelectronics industry. Thanks to advancements in microprocessors and other nanotechnologies, the basic manufacturing tools and technologies for the memristor are already in place. From faster computers to larger and more reliable data storage to machines that think and learn on their own, the memristor holds the promise of a new age of technological advancement. Remember what happened when the transistor replaced the vacuum tube?
-blueonblack