Sarada

PROGRAMMABLE MEMRISTOR
SEMINAR REPORT Submitted by
SARADA RAMANATHAN
in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Technology
in ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING of
COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING MODEL ENGINEERING COLLEGE
COCHIN 682 021 OCTOBER 2010
MODEL ENGINEERING COLLEGE THRIKKAKARA, KOCHI-21 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the seminar report entitled
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .................................................... Submitted by ..................................................... ......................................................... is a bonafide account of the work done by him/her under our supervision
Ms. Dr. Mini M G Head of Department
Ms. Jibi John Seminar coordinator
Ms. Thushara H P Seminar guide
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I, in the first place express my sincere gratitude to the Principal of our college Prof. Dr. Suresh Kumar P, Head of the Electronics Department Dr. Mini M G, Seminar coordinator Ms. Jibi John and the college management for their help and support, for the support in the preparation and presentation of this seminar. I also thank wholeheartedly my Seminar Guide, Ms. Thushara H P for her help, guidance and scholarly tips towards the successful completion of this seminar, without the help of whom this seminar would never have taken shape. By this I thank all the staff of our college for rendering valuable help and support in preparing this seminar. I also thank my parents and my classmates for their encouragement and support. I would also like to thank GOD for blessing the completion of this seminar.
ABSTRACT
A memristor is a two-terminal device whose resistance depends on the magnitude and polarity of the voltage applied to it and the length of time that voltage has been applied. When the voltage is turned off, the recent resistance is stored. They are basically a fourth class of electrical circuit, joining the resistor, the capacitor, and the inductor, that exhibit their unique properties primarily at the nanoscale. Memristive applications are beyond the horizon. When fashioned into a nonvolatile solid-state memory allow greater data density than hard drives with access times potentially similar to DRAM(Dynamic Random Access Memory). In addition to the memory capabilities, the memristor also has the capability to perform CPU(Central Processing Unit) functions. The ease of configurability of memristors can be used in signal processing, which offer the potential to create electronic devices more capable of adapting to different situations. Similarly, a memristor crossbar architechture can be used for arithemetic processing. They can also be configured as Pattern Comparators and Programmable Signal Filters
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO:
TITLE
PAGE NO:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES 1 2 INTRODUCTION ANALOGOUS SYSTEM ORGIN OF MEMRISTORS: THE MISSING CIRCUIT ELEMENT THE MEMRISTOR MEMRISTIVE SYSTEMS WORKING OF MEMRISTOR MEMRISTOR CROSS BAR ARRAY APPLICATIONS 8.1 Signal Processing 8.2 Arithmetic Processing 8.3 Pattern Comparison 8.4 Programmable Signal Filters 8.5 Memory iii v 1 2
4 5 6 7 8
5 8 12 15 17 17 20 23 27 30
9 10 11
ADVANTAGES OF MEMRISTORS RECENT DEVELOPMENTS CONCLUSION REFERENCES AND LINKS
32 33 34
ii
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO: 2.1 3.1
FIGURE NAME Analogy of memristor to a pipe Possible relations among charge q, current i, voltage v and magnetic flux
PAGE NO 2 3
4.1 4.2 5.1 6.1 7.1 7.2 8.1 8.2
Symbol of Memristor Typical current-voltage characteristics of a memristor The coupled variable-resistor model for a memristor Conduction mechanism in a memristor Generic cross-bar structure used for logic computation. Crossbar architecture and switch. Inverting Operational Amplifier Memristor Crossbar Array Connected to delay signal elements and operational amplifer
5 7 10 12 15 16 18 18
8.3
Memristor Crossbar Array Connected to delay signal elements and operational amplifier
19
8.4 8.5
Memristor Crossbar Array Memristor Crossbar Array as a semi-analog arithmetic processor
20 21
8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9
Memristor Crossbar Array Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode
iii
23 24 24 25
8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16
Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode Memristor Crossbar Array in Comparison Mode High Pass Filter/Differentiator Low Pass Filter/Integrator Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter configured as amplifier Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter configured as high pass filter
25 26 27 28 28 29 29
8.17
Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter configured as low pass filter
29
iv
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO: 4.1
TABLE NAME Various possible relationships between I and V
PAGE NO: 6
Model Engineering College
Programmable Memristor
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Memristor is a contraction of memory resistor. Its basic function is to remember its history. Memristor can be defined as A memristor is a two-terminal device whose resistance depends on the magnitude and polarity of the voltage applied to it and the length of time that voltage has been applied.[2] When voltage is turned off, the memristor remembers its most recent resistance until the next time its turned on, whether that happens a day later or a year later. They are basically a fourth class of electrical circuit, joining the resistor, the capacitor, and the inductor, that exhibit their unique properties primarily at the nanoscale. Theoretically Memristors are a type of passive circuit element that maintains a relationship between the time integrals of voltage and current across a two terminal element. This function called memristance is similar to resistance. Hence Memristance is a property of an electronic component. If the charge flows in one direction through a circuit, the rsistance that component of the circuit will increase and if the charge flows in opposite direction in the circuit, the resistances will decrease. If the flow of the charge is stopped by turning off the applied voltage, the component will 'remember' the last resistance it had, and when the flow of charge starts again the resistance of the circuit will be what it was when it was last active. The definition of memristor is solely based on fundamental circuit elements like resistance, capacitance and inductance. Unlike those three elements, which are allowed in linear time invariant (LTI) system theory, memristors are nonlinear and may be defined by any variety of time varying functions of net charge. A linear timeinvariant memristor is simply a resistor. Department of Electronics Engineering 1
Chapter 2
ANALOGOUS SYSTEM
A common analogy for a resistor is pipe carrying water. The water itself is analogous to electric charge, pressure at the input of the pipe is similar to the applied voltage, and rate of flow of water through pipe is the electrical current. Just as with an electrical resistor, flow of water through a pipe is faster if the pipe is shorter and /or it has a larger diameter. An analogy for a memristor is an interesting kind of pipe that expands or shrinks when water flows through it. It the water flows in one direction, the diameter of the pipe increases, thus enabling the water to flow faster. If the water flows in opposite direction, the diameter of the pipe decreases, thus slowing down the flow of water. If the water pressure is turned off, the pipe will retain its most recent diameter until the water turned back on. Thus, the pipe does not store the water like a bucket (for a capacitor) -it remembers how much water flowed through it.
Fig 2.1 Analogy of memristor to a pipe[10]
Department of Electronics Engineering
Chapter 3
ORGIN OF MEMRISTORS: THE MISSING CIRCUIT ELEMENT

In 1971 Leon Chua reasoned from symmetry arguments that there should be a fourth fundamental element, which he called a memristor. Chua discovered a missing link in the pair wise mathematical equations that relate the four circuit quantities charge, current, voltage, and magnetic fluxto one another. These can be related in six ways. The physical law that relates charge and current is dq/dt=i The physical law that relates flux and voltage is d/dt=v The voltage and current are related as dv/di=R The charge and voltage are related as dq/dv=C The flux and current are related as d/di=L
Fig 3.1: Possible relations among charge q, current i, voltage v and magnetic flux [8]
The relationship between flux and charge q, was examined by Chua in his 1971 paper. The relationship between flux and charge by a simple equation d=Mdq (3.1)
where M is defined as memristance, the property of a memristor just as the resistance is the property of a resistor. With this new relationship suggested by Chua, there will siz six equations relating the four fundamental circuit parameters - R , L , C and the new found M . It took nearly four decades to construct a prototype of the memristor. Although the concept looked interesting, physical realization of a memristor, was not practicable. Incidentally, there are dozens of scientific publications in the literature involving thin film devices, which exhibited memristor-like current-voltage characteristics, but those scientists simply could not explain this 'strange behaviour'. Perhaps, they were unaware of Chua's discovery of the memristor. To see the first prototype realization of a memristor and understand its behaviour using a physical model, nanotechnology had to evolve, as certain effects become 'visible' only at nanoscale. This is true in the case of memristor because the ideal model suggested by Chua indicates that the nonlinear behaviour of memristor increases by several orders of magnitude when the device dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale.
Chapter 4
THE MEMRISTOR
The memristor is formally defined as a two-terminal element in which the magnetic flux m between the terminals is a function of the amount of electric charge q that has passed through the device. Each memristor is characterized by its memristance function describing the charge-dependent rate of change of flux with charge modeling equation is given by d = M dq (4.1)
Memristance, M is a property of an electronic component. If charge flows in one direction through a circuit, the resistance of that component of the circuit will increase, and if charge flows in the opposite direction in the circuit, the resistance will decrease. If the flow of charge is stopped by turning off the applied voltage, the component will 'remember' the last resistance that it had, and when the flow of charge starts again the resistance of the circuit will be what it was when it was last active'.
Fig 4.1 Symbol of Memristor
Noting from Faraday's law of induction that magnetic flux is simply the time integral of voltage and charge is the time integral of current, we may write the more convenient form
() ()
(4.2)
It can be inferred from this equation that memristance is simply chargedependent resistance. If M(q(t)) is a constant, then we obtain Ohm's Law
R(t) = v(t) /i(t). If M(q(t)) is nontrivial, however, the equation is not equivalent because q(t) and M(q(t)) will vary with time. Solving for voltage as a function of time we obtain v(t) = i(t).M(q(t)) (4.3)
This equation reveals that memristance defines a linear relationship between current and voltage, as long as charge does not vary. Of course, non-zero current implies time varying charge. Alternating current, however, may reveal the linear dependence in circuit operation by inducing a measurable voltage without net charge movement - as long as the maximum change in q does not cause much change in M. Furthermore, the memristor is static if no current is applied. If i(t) = 0, we find v(t) = 0 and M(t) is constant. This is the essence of the memory effect. The power consumption characteristic recalls that of a resistor and is given by P(t) = i(t)v(t) = I2(t).M(q(t) (4.4)
As long as M(q(t)) varies little, such as under alternating currents, the memristor will appear as a resistor. If M(q(t)) increases rapidly, however, current and power consumption will quickly stop.The various equations can be rewritten as shown in table. Table 4.1: Various possible relationships between I and V[8]
From the table, integral can be used in four different ways to describe the relationship between current and voltage by either using it or not using it. The equations for resistance and memristance appear identical, except for the presence of Department of Electronics Engineering 6
the integral sign in the latter's case on both sides of '='. However, this integral cannot be cancelled because the constant of integration need not be zero. And this is the constant that makes the memristor 'remember' the previous state. R, L and C are linear elements, unlike a diode or a transistor, which exhibit nonlinear current-voltage behaviour. However, Chua has proved theoretically that a memristor is a nonlinear element because its current-voltage characteristic is similar to that of a Lissajous pattern. If a signal with certain frequency is applied to the horizontal plates of an oscilloscope and another signal with a different frequency is applied to the vertical plates, the resulting pattern we see is called the Lissajous pattern. A memristor exhibits a similar current-voltage characteristic, as shown in figure. Unfortunately, no combination of nonlinear resistors, capacitors and inductors can reproduce this Lissajous behaviour of the memristor. That is why a memristor is a fundamental element.
Fig 4.2: Typical current-voltage characteristics of a memristor[8]
Chapter 5
MEMRISTIVE SYSTEMS
The most basic mathematical definition of a current-controlled memristor for circuit analysis is the differential form
v=R(w)I

(5.1) (5.2)
where w is the state variable of the device and R is a generalized resistance that depends upon the internal state of the device. In this case the state variable is just the charge, but no one has been able to propose a physical model that satisfies these simple equations. In 1976 Chua and Kang generalized the memristor concept to a much broader class of nonlinear dynamical systems they called memristive systems, described by the equations
v=R(w,i)I

(5.3) (5.4)
= (, )
where w can be a set of state variables and R and f can in general be explicit functions of time. Note that, unlike in a memristor, the flux in memristive systems is no longer uniquely defined by the charge. However, equation (3) does serve to distinguish a memristive system from an arbitrary dynamical device; no current flows through the memristive system when the voltage drop across it is zero. Consider a physical model of a two-terminal electrical device that behaves like a perfect memristor for a certain restricted range of the state variable w and as a memristive system for another, wider (but still bounded), range of w. This intuitive model produces rich hysteretic behaviour controlled by the intrinsic nonlinearity of M and the boundary conditions on the state variable w. On the basis of this proposition, we consider a thin semiconductor film of thickness D sandwiched between two metal
contacts. The total resistance of the device is determined by two variable resistors connected in series, where the resistances are given for the full length D of the device. Specifically, the semiconductor film has a region with a high concentration of dopants (in this example assumed to be positive ions) having low resistance RON, and the remainder has a low (essentially zero) dopant concentration and much higher resistance ROFF. The application of an external bias v(t) across the device will move the boundary between the two regions by causing the charged dopants to drift. For the simplest case of ohmic electronic conduction and linear ionic drift in a uniform field with average ion mobility V, we obtain.
=
()
+ 1

()
(5.5) (5.6)
()
which yields the following formula for w(t):
()
(5.7)
By inserting equation (7) into equation (5) we obtain the memristance of this system, which for RON<<ROFF simplifies to:
2
= 1
()
(5.8)
The q-dependent term in parentheses on the right-hand side of this equation is the crucial contribution to the memristance, and it becomes larger in absolute value for higher dopant mobilities V and smaller semiconductor film thicknesses D. For any material, this term is 1,000,000 times larger in absolute value at the nanometre scale than it is at the micrometre scale, because of the factor of 1/D2, and the memristance is correspondingly more significant. Thus, memristance becomes more important for understanding the electronic characteristics of any device as the critical
Model Engineering College dimensions shrink to the nanometre scale.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
Fig 5.1 The coupled variable-resistor model for a memristor[3]
Figure 5.1(a),(b),(c)
is a simplified equivalent circuit. V, voltmeter; A
ammeter. Figure 5.1(d),(e),(f),(g) ,is the applied voltage and resulting current as a function of time t for a typical memristor. In Figure 5.1(d),(e) the applied voltage is v0sin(0t) and the resistance ratio is ROFF/RON=160, and in figure 5.1(f),(g) the applied
10
voltage is v0sin2(0t) and ROFF/RON=380, where v0 is the magnitude of the applied voltage and 0 is the frequency. The numbers 16 label successive waves in the applied voltage and the corresponding loops in the iv curves. In each plot the axes are dimensionless, with voltage, current, time, flux and charge expressed in units of v0=1V, i0v0/RON=10 mA, t0=2/0D2/Vv0=10 ms, v0t0 and i0t0, respectively. Here i0 denotes the maximum possible current through the device, and t0 is the shortest time required for linear drift of dopants across the full device length in a uniform field v0/D, for example with D=10nm and V=10-10 cm2 s-1V-1. For the parameters chosen, the applied bias never forces either of the two resistive regions to collapse; for example, w/D does not approach zero or one (shown with dashed lines in the middle plots in 5.1(d) and 5.1(e)). Also, the dashed iv plot in figure 5.1(f) demonstrates the hysteresis collapse observed with a tenfold increase in sweep frequency. The insets in the iv plots in 5.1(f) and 5.1(g) show that for these examples the charge is a singlevalued function of the flux, as it must be in a memristor. The coupled equations of motion for the charged dopants and the electrons in this system take the normal form for a current-controlled (or charge-controlled) memristor (equations 5.1 and 5.2). The fact that the magnetic field does not play an explicit role in the mechanism of memristance is one possible reason why the phenomenon has been hidden for so long; those interested in memristive devices were searching in the wrong places. The mathematics simply require there to be a nonlinear relationship between the integrals of the current and voltage, which is realized in equations 5.5 and 5.6. Another significant issue that was not anticipated by Chua is that the state variable w, which in this case specifies the distribution of dopants in the device, is bounded between zero and D. The state variable is proportional to the charge q that passes through the device until its value approaches D; this is the condition of hard switching (large voltage excursions or long times under bias). As long as the system remains in the memristor regime, any symmetrical alternatingcurrent voltage bias results in double-loop iv hysteresis that collapses to a straight line for high frequencies (Fig.5.1 b). Multiple continuous states will also be obtained if there is any sort of asymmetry in the applied bias (Fig.5.1 c).
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Chapter 6
WORKING OF MEMRISTOR
Semiconductors are doped to make them either p-type or n-type. For example, if silicon is doped with arsenic, it becomes n-type. However, when we apply an electric field to a piece of n-type silicon, the ionized arsenic atoms sitting inside the silicon lattice will not move. Pure titanium dioxide (TiO 2), which is also a
semiconductor, has high resistance, just as in the case of intrinsic silicon, and it can also be doped to make it conducting. If an oxygen atom, which is negatively charged, is removed from its substitutional site in TiO2, a positively charged oxygen vacancy (V 0+) is created, which acts as a donor of electrons. These positively charged oxygen vacancies can be moved in the direction of current by applying an electric field. Taking advantage of this ionic transport, the Hewlett-Packard team used a sandwich of thin conducting and nonconducting layers of TiO2 to realize the memristor.
(a)
(b)
Fig 6.1 Conduction mechanism in a memristor (a) broader electronic barrier when a negative potential is applied to electrode A and (b) thin electronic barrier when a positive potential is applied to electrode A.[8]
12
As shown in fig 6.1, suppose we have two thin layers of TiO2 , one highly conducting layer with lots of oxygen vacancies (V0+) and the other layer undoped, which is highly resistive. Suppose that good Ohmic contacts are formed using platinum (Pt) electrodes on either side of this sandwich of TiO 2. The electronics barrier between the undoped TiO2 and the metal looks broader, as shown. The situation remains the same, even when a negative potential is applied to electrode A, because the positively charged oxygen vacancies (V0+) are attracted towards electrode A and the length of the undoped region increases. Under these conditions, the electronic barrier at the undoped TiO2 and the metal is still too wide and it will be difficult for the electrons to cross over the barrier. However, when a positive potential is applied to electrode A, as shown in fiure, the positively charged oxygen vacancies (V0+) are repelled and move into the undoped TiO2. This ionic movement towards electrode B reduces the length of the undoped region. When more positively charged oxygen vacancies (V0+) reach the TiO2 /metal interface, the potential barrier for the electrons becomes very narrow, as shown, making tunnelling through the barrier a real possibility. This leads to a large current flow, making the device turn ON. In this case, the positively charged oxygen vacancies (V0+) are present across the length of the device. When the polarity of the applied voltage is reversed, the oxygen vacancies (V0+) can be pushed back into their original place on the doped side, restoring the broader electronic barrier at the TiO2 /metal interface. This forces the device to turn OFF due to an increase in the resistance of the device and reduced possibility for carrier tunnelling . The speciality of the memristor is not just that it can be turned OFF or ON but that it can actually remember the previous state. This is because when the applied bias is removed, the positively charged Ti ions (which are actually the oxygen deficient sites) do not move anymore, making the boundary between the doped and undoped layers of TiO2 immobile. When you next apply a bias (negative or positive) to the device, it starts from where it was left. Unlike in the case of typical semiconductors, such as silicon in which only mobile carriers move, in the case of the memristor, both the ionic as well as the electron movement, into the undoped TiO2 and out of undoped
13
TiO2, are responsible for the hysteresis in its current-voltage characteristics. Flux is supposed to be related to the charge through the memristance M. However, linking magnetic flux to the voltage is not the only way of satisfying the equation for memristance. There are other ways of satisfying the fourth fundamental equation, as long as the relationship between the integrals of the current and voltage is nonlinear. For example, in the case of TiO2 experiment, increasing or decreasing the length of the undoped region determines the resistance of the memristor. Therefore, here the state variable is the thickness of the stoichiometric or pure TiO 2 and it is controlled by the amount of charge passing through the device over a period of time.
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Chapter 7
MEMRISTOR CROSS BAR ARRAY

The crossbar structure has been used to implement digital logic since the 1970s. The basic structure contains a mesh of wires with switches that may be present at junctions. The state of the switch can be open or closed. The crossbar can be used to compute logic based on the placement of these switches on the wire junctions and their state.
No switch at junction Switch closed at junction Switch open at junction
Fig 7.1 Generic cross-bar structure used for logic computation. [6] Current crossbar based logic designs have inherent disadvantages to conventional CMOS(Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) design in terms of performance (wire delay is dominant in crossbar designs), density (large unused areas) and power dissipation (most of the unused switches in junctions are inactive and hence consume leakage power.) However, the disadvantages are mainly due to the device choice used to implement the switch. An alternative to overcome these disadvantages is the Memristor. Memristor crossbar array has variety of application. One advantage of memristors to electronics is their ease of configurability. Since memristors can be switched between high and low resistances they may be used in a similar manner as fuses used to selectively open and close connections between electronic circuit components. However, in contrast to many conventional fuses, the Department of Electronics Engineering 15
switching may be repeatedly reconfigured. In addition, when combined with nanowire crossbar interconnect technology, previously developed by Hewlett-Packard, millions of memristor interconnects may be formed in a microscopic amount of space.
Fig 7.2 Crossbar architecture and switch.[2] The Crossbar Architecture: The crossbar architecture is a fully connected mesh of perpendicular wires. Any two crossing wires are connected by a switch. To close the switch, a positive voltage is applied across the two wires to be connected. To open the switch, the voltage is reversed. Switch: A switch is a 40-nanometer cube of titanium dioxide (TiO2) in two layers: Lower TiO2 layer has a perfect 2:1 oxygen-to-titanium ratio, making it an insulator. By contrast, the upper TiO2 layer is missing 0.5 percent of its oxygen (TiO2-x) so x is about 0.05. The vacancies make the TiO2-x material metallic and conductive.
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Chapter 8
APPLICATIONS
Memristive devices can operate in digital or analog modes. Each of these has different applications. In digital mode, they could replace solid-state flash memory with faster, less expensive non-volatile random access memory. This could enable the creation of digital cameras that don't need to pause between taking photographs, or computers that save power by turning themselves off when they're not needed and turning themselves on again when in use, without losing memory. In analog mode, memristors may let manufacturers build computers that learn what users want through pattern-matching abilities that would let it change its user interface according to how the owner uses the device. These pattern-matching abilities also make memristors suitable for artificial intelligence applications such as understanding speech.
8.1 Signal Processing

In order to use memristors in signal processors a suitable architecture needs to be created. One circuit element which may be very useful to the construction of memristor based signal processors is the operational amplifier, or op-amp for short. In one configuration, as illustrated in Fig. 8.1. An op-amp is provided with negative feedback which produces an inverting amplifier. Such a configuration results in the inverting and non-inverting input terminals to be forced to a common potential and the input current flowing through R1 is balanced by the current flowing through R2 . Combined with Ohm's Law this result in an amplication factor between the output and input voltages set to the ratio between resistances R2 and R1.
17
Fig 8.1 Inverting Operational Amplifier [9] Since memristors have the capacity to switch between high and low resistance states an array of memristors may be provided in a crossbar configuration to enhance the operability and configurability of op-amps. Crossbars are formed from a first array of vertical conductive wires crossing with a second array of horizontal conductive wires. Between the two arrays is formed the memristance material so that any particular wire in the vertical array can be connected to a wire in the horizontal array by switching the resistance of a particular intersection (i.e. crosspoint) to a low state (essentially a short circuit) with the remainder of the crosspoints remaining in a high resistance state (essentially an open circuit). By separating adjacent vertical wires of the crossbar array with time delay elements and connecting different resistance values between the horizontal wires and the inverting terminal of the op-amp both the amplitude and time delay of the output signal Vout(t) relative to the input signal Vin (t) can be determined by the crosspoints configured to be in the low resistance state. Fig 8.2 illustrates such a configuration in which the upper leftmost crosspoint is at a low resistance state and all of the other crosspoints are in the high resistance state.
Fig 8.2 Memristor Crossbar Array Connected to delay signal elements and operational amplifer[9] Department of Electronics Engineering 18
Fig. 8.3 illustrates a reconfiguration of the crossbar array so that a different crosspoint is in the low resistance state. This configuration results in a doubling of the amplification factor compared to the configuration of Fig. 4 (i.e. R/(R/2) = 2) and a relative delay of the signal.
Fig 8.3 Memristor Crossbar Array Connected to delay signal elements and operational amplifier [9] By configuring a single crosspoint to a low resistance state 16 different possible signal outputs are possible, however by allowing for the configuration of multiple crosspoints a maximum of 216 = 65,536 possible signal transformations are possible (note: in order to prevent unwanted feedback paths within the crossbar a rectification layer may be provided or p-type and n-type doping may be performed creating diode junctions at each crosspoint.) By using a periodic pulse as the input signal and providing a larger crossbar array with finer time delay between adjacent columns of the crossbar and a larger range of resistances for the different rows there is potential to create a universal waveform generator capable of adapting the amplitude and timing of signals in accordance with a variety of desired applications. An alternative example of a memristor signal processor could include applying signal harmonics (i.e. sin wt, sin 2wt, sin 3wt, ..) instead of time delays to establish a programmable waveform based on Fourier series.
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8.2 Arithmetic Processing

Modern computational systems are based on logic gates which perform elementary operation on bit values (0 or 1) in order to perform operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. This has been a highly successful methodology for computation, however it has some drawbacks. One disadvantage of logic-based computation is that for many operations data has to be repeatedly transferred between memory and the arithmetic logic unit which can be very time consuming for some complex computational problems. For example, multiplication is actually performed by repeated retrieval and storage step for accumulating sums. Another disadvantage is that logic gates are formed from transistors and are subject to the ultimate limits of nanoscale physics which could eventually end Moore's law. Memristors could offer some solutions which may expand the capabilities of computation beyond traditional logic gates. Memristor crossbar arrays could be used for arithmetic processing. However, ultimately this approach may have some drawbacks in that multiple crossbar tiles need to be configured and interconnected for a full arithmetic logic unit design and the problem of segmentation between memory and computation components is not solved. An alternative approach may be based on a hybrid analog/digital computational system approach. Figs. 8.4 show examples of a memristor crossbar array including a horizontal wire intersected by eight vertical wires in which memristor material is sandwiched between the horizontal wire and the vertical wires.
Fig 8.4Memristor Crossbar Array[9]
20
An input voltage below the threshold necessary for altering the resistance of the memristance material is applied to the vertical wires. Assuming that the
memristor material may be approximated as a fuse (i.e. high resistance is approximately an open circuit and low resistance is a low resistance), the total output current in the horizontal wire may be calculated based on the ratio of the input voltage and the parallel combination of the number of number of low resistances. Thus if one low resistance state produces a current of I, two low resistance states will produce a current of 2I, three low resistance states will produce a current of 3I, etc. This system is essentially a unary analog computer and by providing the output current to and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) a binary output can be produced.
Fig 8.5 Memristor Crossbar Array as a semi-analog arithmetic processor[9]
Fig 8.5 illustrates an example of how such an analog computational system can be made using parallel circuits and provide integration between memory and computational systems. In the illustrated system each column of the crossbar is configured to store the equivalent of a binary numerical value where low resistance states are indicated as a closed connection and high resistance states are open connections. Thus the first column stores the binary value 0001 (=1), the second column stores the binary value 0010 (=2), the third column stores binary value 0011 (=3), etc. Each row wire includes a weighting resistor set to be sufficiently larger than the low resistance state of the memristance material so that each row has an associated bit significance ranging from a least significant bit row (uppermost row) to a most
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significant bit row (lowermost row). By selecting particular columns (i.e. applying a positive voltage Vin less than the threshold necessary to alter the resistance of the memristor material) the binary numerical values of these columns may be added together. In the example of Fig. 8.6, the first, fifth and sixth column values are summed. In the first column only the upper row crosspoint is in a low resistance state so this contributes a current of approximately (Vin/R). In the fifth column, the first and third row crosspoints are in the low resistance states which contribute (Vin/R+Vin/(R/4)=5Vin/R) to the current. In the sixth column the second and third row crosspoints are in the low resistance states overall which current contribute is thus
(Vin/(R/2)+Vin/(R/4)=6Vin/R) to
the current. The
(Vin/R+5Vin/R+6Vin/R=12Vin/R). Using an analog-to-digital convertor with a resolution set to Vin/R the output is converted to 1100 which is the expected sum (0001+0101+0110). The above description is simplified for ease of explanation. It is noted that for proper operation a pn junction layer or rectification material would preferably be provided between the column and row wiring to prevent feedback paths in the crossbar wiring. Also the low resistance values of the memristor material should be compensated for by tuning of the fixed weighting resistors (e.g. the fixed resistor R in the first row should be changed to R-r, in the second row R/2 should be R/2 - r, etc. where r is the value of the low resistance state). While the above configuration has some deficiencies of its own, such as the reliance on analog circuitry which can be more sensitive than purely digital electronics to noise and environmental effects, it has the advantage of integrating memory with computation. If three, four, or more numbers need to be summed the sum can be performed directly based on binary numbers stored as resistance states in a memristor crossbar array rather than based on a repeated storage and retrieval from a separate memory. In some applications where the relative magnitude of a large number of possible numerical sum is of interest this approach may be even more advantage without the necessity of analog to digital conversion
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8.3 Pattern Comparison

In conventional digital electronics comparisons between stored bit patterns and sensed bit patterns is required for a variety of applications in information processing such as image recognition and memory addressing. Often logic gates called Exclusive NOR (XNOR) are used to perform individual bit comparisons to identify matching bits in a pattern. However, such logic gates can be inefficient when dealing with large array bit patterns associated with visual images, digitalized voice data, or other complex patterns since each bit comparison requires its own logic circuit. A variety of computer software tricks exist to make data comparisons more efficient but these tricks can have a detrimental effect on the overall speed of the pattern comparison. Memristor crossbar arrays offer the potential to bridge the gap between hardware solutions based on logic gates and software solutions based on computing power offering faster and more efficient pattern comparison
operations. Fig. 8.6 illustrates one possible configuration for such a memristor crossbar array used for pattern comparison in which two 4x4 crossbar arrays are included with logic inverters connected to the right crossbar array and voltage converters provided for selective amplification of the input voltage levels. The crossbar arrays initially includes memristance material configured to be at a high resistance state between the column and row wiring (a rectification layer may also be provided to avoid feedback between the crossbars).
Fig 8.6 Memristor Crossbar Array[9] Department of Electronics Engineering 23
Figs. 8.7 to 8.10 illustrate the programming (writing) of the resistance states in the memristor crossbar in which each row is selected via a correponding output transistor. For programming the resistance states the voltage convertor circuitry is used to amplify a binary input logic voltage into a range sufficient for switching the memristance material from the high resistance state to the low resistance state. For simplicity of explanation the low resistance state is approximated as a short circuit. In Fig. 8.7, the first crossbar rows are written with resistance states corresponding to a 1010 in the left crossbar array and a 0101 in the right crossbar array (1=low resistance state, 0=high resistance state).
Fig 8.7 Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode [9] In Fig. 8.8, the second crossbar rows are written with resistance states corresponding to a 0111 in the left crossbar array and a 1000 in the right crossbar array (1=low resistance state, 0=high resistance state).
Fig 8.8 Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode [9] Department of Electronics Engineering 24
In Fig. 8.9, the third crossbar rows are written with resistance states corresponding to a 1100 in the left crossbar array and a 0011 in the right crossbar array (1=low resistance state, 0=high resistance state).
Fig 8.9 Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode [9]
In Fig. 8.10, the fourth crossbar rows are written with resistance states corresponding to a 0010 in the left crossbar array and a 1101 in the right crossbar array (1=low resistance state, 0=high resistance state).
Fig 8.10 Memristor Crossbar Array in Write Mode[9] After storing the resistance states in the crossbar rows the voltage converter can be switched to a comparison mode by reducing the amplification factor so as to be Department of Electronics Engineering 25
below the threshold which alters the memristance material. By selecting all of the rows an input binary pattern van be compared to all of the rows simultaneously. In Fig. 8.11 the bit pattern 0111 is input to the crossbar array producing relative current outputs for each row in accordance with the number of matching resistance states. For example, the first row stores 1010/0101 which only matches a single bit with the input pattern 0111 and transmits a single unit of current from the left crossbar array. In contrast row 2 stores 0111/1000 and thus transmits three units of current from the left crossbar array and one unit of current from the right crossbar array providing a total of four units of current. Thus the magnitude of the output currents between the input bit pattern and the stored bit pattern for each row provide an indication which is somewhat related to the Hamming distance used in information theory (i.e. a higher current magnitude corresponds to a lower Hamming distance).
Fig 8.11 Memristor Crossbar Array in Comparison Mode[9]
The output currents may be transmitted to a comparison circuit with a threshold set in accordance with the degree of precision desired between the input and stored bit pattern. A reduced threshold allowing for a certain percentage of bit errors could be useful to a variety of applications such as voice recognition and image sensing in which the closest match rather than exact match between bit patterns is important. In other applications, such as robotics, a motor or actuator may be
26
connected to each row output and the input pattern may correspond to a control word used to generate a response for the motor or actuator of a corresponding row. Artificial intelligence is another potential application in which the digitial input patterns may correspond to visual or audio cues used to "train" the memristor crossbar arrays as indicated in Figs 8.6 to 8.10. At a subsequent time these same visual or audio cues can then be used to solicit the trained responses in the comparison mode. This type of crossbar architecture could of course be scaled up to crossbar arrays having hundreds or even thousands of rows and columns allowing for comparison of lengthier bit patterns and a higher degree of parallel processing.
8.4 Programmable Signal Filters

As discussed in the above section on signal processing with memristors, operational amplifiers combined with memristors can produce some useful applications in reconfigurable signal processing. These capacities may be extended by including capacitors in the circuit construction. The combination of capacitors with operational amplifiers is already known to produce some very useful circuit designs. Fig. 8.12 illustrated below with a resistor R1 as a negative feedback element of the operational amplifier and a capacitor C1 as an input element, acts as a high pass filter(differentiator).
Fig 8.12 High Pass Filter/Differentiator[9]
Fig. 8.13 provides another example of the use of capacitors with operational amplifiers in which the positions of the capacitor and resistor of Fig. 8.12 are reversed. The circuit acts as a low pass filter (integrator). Department of Electronics Engineering 27
Fig 8.13 Low Pass Filter/Integrator [9]
While the above circuits are useful to communication and control systems there are a variety of circumstances where variations in temperature or other conditions can change the characteristics of the resistors and capacitors. In addition selective tuning of the resistors and capacitors is desirable for communication applications. While variable resistors and capacitors may be used to serve this function, the analog behavior of these devices can be difficult to regulate with digital precision. This is where memristance crossbars can offer an advantage.
Fig 8.14 Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter [9]
Fig. 8.14 illustrates an operational amplifier connected to an array of fixed capacitors having values set in multiples of 2. Memristor crossbar arrays are connected between the capacitor arrays and the inverting input of the operational amplifier which may provide for programmable interconnections for selected capacitors.
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Fig 8.15 Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter configured as amplifier [9]
Fig 8.16 Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter configured as high pass filter[9]
Fig 8.17 Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter configured as low pass filter[9]
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This configuration allow for reconfiguration of the circuit to act as an amplifier (Fig. 8.15), a high pass filter (Fig. 8.16), or a low pass filter (Fig. 8.17) by applying the appropriate voltages via memristance programming circuitry. In addition, different capacitors or combinations of capacitors can be included in the circuit via a reconfiguration of the memristance states to tune the cutoff frequency of the circuit. Assuming that the low resistance state of the memristance material is suitably low so as to approximated by a short circuit, the capacitors may be treated as being in parallel when multiple crosspoints are set to a low resistance state. Since the capacitors are set in multiples of two this result in the possibility of creating a wide range of cutoff frequency for a low or high pass circuit according to the digital pattern stored in the crossbars. For example, Fig. 8.15 would correspond to the state (10000 10000), Fig. 8.16 would correspond to the state (01000 10000), and Fig. 8.17 would correspond to the state (10000 01000). The resolution of such a system would be set by the minimum capacitor values (C/8 in the examples of Fig. 8.14 to 8.16) but could be increased by adding more columns to the crossbar arrays with associated capacitors. Connecting two of the circuits of Fig. 8.14 in series can provide for a programmable bandpass filter in which case one of the filters can set the lowpass cutoff frequency and the other can set the highpass cutoff frequency. In another application a reconfigurable PID controller may be implemented by connecting three circuits such as Fig. 8.14 in parallel. This can provide for a tunable control system that can adjust itself to different conditions or applications and may be particularly useful in adaptive robotic systems.
8.5 Memory
Memristor based memory is constructed with nanoscale wires about 50 nanometers (150 atoms) wide. The wires are laid down in rows on a thin film. Then a sandwich layer of oxygen depleted titanium dioxide the business layer with the variable resistance properties is spread over the nanowires. On top of that are laid down more rows of nanowire, perpendicular to the wires below. Each intersection of
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nanowire rows becomes a memristor. Applying a tiny current to a memristor can change the position of as little as one atom in the titanium oxide, which changes the resistance. That change is retained when the current is off. The difference in resistance can be read by a current flowing in the opposite direction (using alternating current, AC) without changing the position(i.e. by applying a voltage lower than the threshold voltage.). If the memristor is on, then it will conduct even at this voltage. If off, it will not conduct. For a write operation, a voltage greater than threshold voltage is applied to write a 0(or 1 depending of configuration),i.e. to turn on the memristor and to write a 1( or 0) a voltage of opposite poloarity whose magnitude is greater than the threshold voltage is applied, which in turn turns off the memristor. A big advantage for the memristor is the ability to pack tight rows, each memristor being as small as 3 nanometers, and then to be able to stack layers of memristors a condensed format that can lead to high memory capacity in a very small space. Better yet, unlike traditional flash memory (used in todays memory sticks, etc.), which can be re-used about 100,000 times, the memristors can withstand about a million read-write cycles.
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Chapter 10
ADVANTAGES OF MEMRISTORS
1. Memristive devices could change the standard paradigm of computing by enabling calculations to be performed in the chips where data is stored rather than in a specialized central processing unit 2. Computing Systems would become more compact and power efficient. 3. Memristors could also deliver more energy-efficient products since these devices require less energy to operate, are faster than present solid-state storage technologies, and can store at least twice as much data in the same area. 4. The Memristors are virtually immune from radiation, which make them viable solutions for smaller and more powerful devices. The problem with traditional silicon chips is that when the size gets too small, it gets more prone to slightest radiations raising the error beyond tolerable limits. As Memristors are not semiconductors, they are immune to radiations. 5. Instant-on PCs: As Memristors retain memory in the absence of power, they would help creating the computers that can power-on to the last state in splitseconds.. 6. Memristors might help extend Moores Law past the point where silicon technology runs up against insurmountable technical barriers.
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Chapter 11
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
HP said it has created development-ready architectures for memory chips using memristors and believes it is possible that devices incorporating the element could come to market within the next few years. HP prototyped a crossbar latch memory using the devices that can fit 100 gigabits in a square centimeter, and has designed a highly scalable 3D design (consisting of up to 1000 layers or 1 petabit in a cubic cm) Memristors actually can be made to react pretty much the same way synapses do. A synapse is the little biological gizmo that allows one neuron in your brain to send a signal (electrical or chemical) to another one. It was demonstrated that it should be possible to craft semiconductor circuits into patterns that behave like a biological brain. Their invention works by using a silicon and silver mix to connect two metal electrodes--the resulting memristor can strengthen or weaken the signal sent through it to the next "neuron" depending on when the system was last fired-up, enabling real synapse-like behavior. Hybrid reconfigurable logic circuits were fabricated by integrating memristorbased crossbars onto a foundry-built CMOS (complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor) platform using nanoimprint lithography, as well as materials and processes that were compatible with the CMOS. Titanium dioxide thin-film memristors served as the configuration bits and switches in a data routing network and were connected togate-level CMOS components that acted as logic elements, in a manner similar to a field programmable gate array. We analyzed the chips using a purpose-built testing system, and demonstrated the ability to configure individual devices, use them to wire up various logic gates and a flip-flop, and then reconfigure devices.
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Chapter 12
CONCLUSION
The memristor presents an amazing opportunity for change in the computer memory hierarchy, storage capacity, and nonvolatile state. Lab results for the research have shown that we are just at the cusp of all the capabilities of memristors. With that being said, there are still some unknowns about the technology that will challenge its adoption. The material used as the semiconductor is relatively new to electronic circuits, and research from competitors is appearing to be quicker to market than the memristor.
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REFERENCES AND LINKS

[1] Leon 0. Chua, Memristor-The Missing Circuit Element,IEEE Transactions On Circuit Theory, VOL. CT-18, NO. 5, September 1971, pp 585-594. [2] R. Stanley Williams, How we found the missing memristor, IEEE Spectrum,December 2008, pp 25-31. [3] Dmitri B. Strukov, Gregory S. Snider, Duncan R. Stewart & R. Stanley Williams,The missing memristor found, NATURE, Vol 453, 1 May 2008, pp 80-83. [4] Yuriy V. Pershin and Massimiliano Di Ventra, Practical Approach to Programmable Analog CircuitsWith Memristors, IEEE Transactions On Circuit Theory, April 2010, pp 1-8. [5] Mika Laiho, Arithmetic Operations within Memristor-Based Analog Memory ,12th International Workshop on Cellular Nanoscale Networks and their Applications (CNNA),April 2010 [6] Tezaswi Raja, and Samiha Mourad, Digital Logic Implementation in Memristorbased Crossbars-A Tutorial, Fifth IEEE International Symposium on Electronic Design, Test & Applications,April 2010 [7] Sangho Shin, Kyungmin Kim, Sung-Mo Kang, Memristor Applications For Programmable Analog ICs, Final manuscript for TNANO 2009. pp 1-9 [8] Jagadeesh Kumar M, Memristor Why Do We Have to Know About It, IETE Technical Review, Volume 26, February 2009,pp 1-4. [9] http://knol.google.com/k/the-business-landscape-for-memristor-electronics# [10] http://technoburst.blogspot.com/2010/03/in-past-electronic-circuit-theoryhas.html

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PROGRAMMABLE MEMRISTOR

SEMINAR REPORT Submitted by

in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING MODEL ENGINEERING COLLEGE

COCHIN 682 021 OCTOBER 2010

MODEL ENGINEERING COLLEGE THRIKKAKARA, KOCHI-21 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the seminar report entitled

Ms. Dr. Mini M G Head of Department

Ms. Jibi John Seminar coordinator

Ms. Thushara H P Seminar guide

ADVANTAGES OF MEMRISTORS RECENT DEVELOPMENTS CONCLUSION REFERENCES AND LINKS

FIGURE NO: 2.1 3.1

4.1 4.2 5.1 6.1 7.1 7.2 8.1 8.2

Memristor Crossbar Array Memristor Crossbar Array as a semi-analog arithmetic processor

8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9

8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16

Memristor crossbar/op-amp filter configured as low pass filter

TABLE NO: 4.1

TABLE NAME Various possible relationships between I and V

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Fig 2.1 Analogy of memristor to a pipe[10]

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ORGIN OF MEMRISTORS: THE MISSING CIRCUIT ELEMENT

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Fig 4.1 Symbol of Memristor

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Fig 4.2: Typical current-voltage characteristics of a memristor[8]

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which yields the following formula for w(t):

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Fig 5.1 The coupled variable-resistor model for a memristor[3]

is a simplified equivalent circuit. V, voltmeter; A

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MEMRISTOR CROSS BAR ARRAY

No switch at junction Switch closed at junction Switch open at junction

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8.1 Signal Processing

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