Showing posts with label Memristor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memristor. Show all posts

2010-04-21

HP Memristor Technology Mimics Brain Synapse


Computer chip breakthrough mimics brain synapse

HP unveils a breakthrough in powerful computer chip technology that can process data, store memory and stack 3-dimensionally ... just like a brain synapse.



H.P. Sees a Revolution in Memory Chip

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Hewlett-Packard scientists on Thursday are to report advances in the design of a new class of diminutive switches capable of replacing transistors as computer chips shrink closer to the atomic scale.
[...]
Memristor-based systems also hold out the prospect of fashioning analog computing systems that function more like biological brains, Dr. Chua said.

“Our brains are made of memristors,” he said, referring to the function of biological synapses. “We have the right stuff now to build real brains.”

In an interview at the H.P. research lab, Stan Williams, a company physicist, said that in the two years since announcing working devices, his team had increased their switching speed to match today’s conventional silicon transistors. The researchers had tested them in the laboratory, he added, proving they could reliably make hundreds of thousands of reads and writes.



From Lab to Fab – An HP Labs discovery demonstrates the viability – and versatility – of memristor technology


The HP Labs team that built the world’s first memristor this week announced another significant advance in memristor research.

In an article  published in the current issue of Nature, the HP researchers demonstrate that memristors – a fourth basic element in integrated circuits which only existed in theory until 2008 – are capable of performing logic functions. It’s further evidence that memristors have the potential to make an impact on real world computing, says Stanley Williams, director of HP’s Information & Quantum Systems Lab and lead researcher on the project.



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HP Labs Discovery Holds Potential to Fundamentally Change Computer System Design 

“Memristor” could enable computation on memory chips

[...]
“Since our brains are made of memristors, the flood gate is now open for commercialization of computers that would compute like human brains, which is totally different from the von Neumann architecture underpinning all digital computers.”

– Leon Chua, professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department, University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Chua initially theorized about and named the memristor in an academic paper published 39 years ago.

6-Minute Memristor Guide



THE MEMRISTOR - INCREDIBLE!



Sources:
  1. Memristor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. H.P. Says New Device Could Transform Chip-Making - NYTimes.com
  3. An HP Labs discovery demonstrates the viability and versatility of memristor technology: HP Labs News Article (April 2010)
  4. HP Labs Discovery Holds Potential to Fundamentally Change Computer System Design
  5. YouTube - 6-Minute Memristor Guide
  6. YouTube - THE MEMRISTOR - INCREDIBLE!
Related:
  1. Access : |[lsquo]|Memristive|[rsquo]| switches enable |[lsquo]|stateful|[rsquo]| logic operations via material implication : Nature
  2. HP: Memristors now a reality - Solid State Technology
  3. Computer chip breakthrough mimics brain synapse | MNN - Mother Nature Network
  4. YouTube - Making and Measuring Memristors
  5. LinkNotes: Memristor Device Mimics Brain Synapse

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

RSC - Advancing the Chemical Sciences



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."

Sources:
  1. Memristor: A Device That Mimics The Brain’s Synaptic Action - PSFK
  2. Silver sputtered nano chips mimic brain synapse
  3. Lu Nanoelectronics Group » Projects
  4. Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: "Wei Lu Receives CAREER Award"
Related:
  1. Engineer's memristor chip could lead to faster, cheaper computers
  2. Wei Lu: EECS Faculty, Nanoelectronics
  3. Brain-Like Computer Closer to Realization
  4. Electronics 'missing link' brings neural computing closer - tech - 15 March 2010 - New Scientist
  5. Nanoscale Memristor Device as Synapse in Neuromorphic Systems - Nano Letters (ACS Publications)
  6. Memristor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  7. Memristor found: HP Labs proves fourth integrated circuit element
  8. MEMRISTOR- A groundbreaking breakthrough in fundamental electronics!!

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.

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.

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."

An atomic force microscope image of 17 HP Labs non-linear devices in a row, each a pair of oxide layers between the single bottom wire and one of the top wires.

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Related:
IEEE Spectrum: The Mysterious Memristor
HP nano device implements memristor
Memristor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The missing memristor found : Abstract : Nature
HP Discovers Potential "God Particle" of Electronics | Popular Science
Memristor mystery revisited: Your questions answered