2010-03-20

Memristor Device Mimics Brain Synapse

Clipped from: Memristor: A Device That Mimics The Brain’s Synaptic Action - PSFK

Memristor: A Device That Mimics The Brain’s Synaptic Action

A US military-funded project used memristors, a device whose resistance at any moment depends on the last voltage it experienced, to attempt building brain-like computers.

Clipped from: Silver sputtered nano chips mimic brain synapse

Silver sputtered nano chips mimic brain synapse

The two-terminal electronic device, known as a memristor ('memory' + 'resistor'), is similar to a biological synapse in that its conductance can be precisely changed by controlling the charge running through it. The researchers found that changing the way they embedded silver ions in the silicon-based devices improved their performance.

A memristor's resistance is controlled by its 'memory' of the currents and voltages it has been exposed to. 'It can be employed to build a computer in the way that nature builds brains,' explained Wei Lu of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

How memristors can act as synapses between neurons, with schematics of the memristor structure and the two-terminal device in the insets.

Clipped from: Lu Nanoelectronics Group » Projects

Neuromorphic Circuits Based on Memristor Synapses
(Sung Hyun Jo and Ting Chang)

A synapse is essentially a two-terminal device and bears striking resemblance to an electrical device termed memristor (memory + resistor). Similar to a biological synapse, the conductance of a memristor can be incrementally modified by controlling charge flown through it. This project aims to build computers following the approach nature builds brains. In the proposed memristor-based neuromorphic system, CMOS computing units will serve as neurons and a crossbar array of memristors will serve as synapses, as shown in the image above. This hybrid CMOS/memristor circuit that can potentially offer connectivity and function density comparable to those of biological systems. In particular, we have developed nanoscale Si-based memristors and verified that Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP), an important synaptic modification rule for competitive Hebbian learning, can be achieved in the hybrid CMOS/memristor system.

Clipped from: Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: "Wei Lu Receives CAREER Award"

Wei Lu Receives CAREER Award

Prof. Wei Lu, assistant professor in division of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recently awarded an NSF CAREER grant for his research project, "Understanding, Development and Applications of Nanoscale Memristor Devices."

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2008-05-25

HP realizes the Memristor -- The missing fourth fundamental circuit element

Scientists of Hewlett-Packard demonstrated recently realizations of a new fundamental circuit element, the so called memristor, or memory resistor, If commercialized, it could lead to very dense, energy-efficient memory chips.

clipped from www.spectrum.ieee.org

The Mysterious Memristor

Researchers at HP have solved the 37-year mystery of the memory resistor, the missing 4th circuit element.

Chua deduced the existence of memristors from the
mathematical relationships between the circuit elements.

Chua proposed the memristor purely for the mathematical
aesthetics of it, as a class of circuit element based on
a relationship between charge and flux.

clipped from www.electronicsweekly.com

HP nano device implements memristor

HP Labs has made a nano-scale device which stores data, explains previous anomalies in nano-device characteristics, and may be able to act as a synapse in analogue neural networks. It is also the first physical implementation of the memristor, claims HP, a theoretical partner to resistors, capacitors and inductors invented in 1971.

HP also sees the junction as possible component of artificial brains. "It is very similar to a brain synapse," said spokesman Harrah. "You could simulate a brain with transistors as neurons and a bunch of these as synapses."

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