- Memristors
In 1971 Leon Chua reasoned from symmetry arguments that there should be a fourth fundamental electronic circuit-board element (in addition to the resistor, capacitor and inductor) which he called memristor, a portmanteau of the words memory and resistor. Although Chua showed that memristors have many interesting and valuable properties, it wasn’t until 2007 that a group of researchers from Hewlett Packard Labs found that the memristance effect can be present in nanoscale systems under certain conditions. Many researchers believe that memristors could end electronics as we know it and begin a new era of “ionics”.
While commonly available transistor functions use a flow of electrons, the memristor couples the electrons with ions, or electrically charged atoms. In transistors, once the flow of electrons is interrupted (for example by switching off the power) all information is lost. Memristors “memorize” and store information about the amount of charge that has flowed through them, even when the power is off.
The discovery of memristors paves the way to better information storage, making novel memory devices faster, safer and more efficient. There will be no information loss, even if the power is off. Memristor-based circuits will allow us to switch computers on and off instantly, and start work straight away.
For the past several years, Hewlett Packard has been working on a new type of computer based on memristor technology. HP plans to launch the product by 2020.
