Date:04/05/2008 URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/04/stories/2008050459471300.htm
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National
New circuit element devised
Special Correspondent
HP scientists realise the 'memristor'
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Can fuel new class of computer memory
Memristors using titanium dioxide being built
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Bangalore: As all science students know, there are only three basic elements
that make up an electrical circuit: the resistor, the capacitor and the
inductor.
Sorry guys! It may be time to tear up your textbooks and write new ones:
scientists have realised physical samples of a fourth fundamental element which
they call a memristor -short for memory resistor.
In a paper published in the latest issue of Nature magazine ('The missing
memristor found'; May 1, 2008; vol no. 453; pp 80-83), researchers at Hewlett
Packard Labs, U.S., report that the 'missing' fourth element of circuitry that
Professor Leon Chua of the University of California in Berkeley predicted
in 1971 is indeed realisable.
Practical units
The team, led by R. Stanley Williams, believes that using nano technology one
can soon build practical units of the resistor-with-memory that cannot be
created by a mere combination of the three basic circuit elements.
Such elements could fuel a new class of computer memory that would 'remember,'
even if the machine were switched off.... in other words, tomorrow's PCs
could boot up and spring to life instantly.
The engineers are busy building memristors using titanium dioxide and have
already realised a few hybrid versions in silicon.
Memory banks built using memristors could be a thousand times faster than
today's magnetic disk systems, and consume a fraction of the power, the
scientists
suggest.
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