CHAPTER 3 Working Of Memristor

3.1 Memristor Switching Mechanism

HP Labs memristor is a two terminal, two layer semiconductor built from layers of titanium dioxide sandwiched between two metal electrodes in a crossbar architecture. One layer of TiO2 is doped with oxygen vacancies, making it a semiconductor, while the adjacent layer is undoped, leaving it in its natural state as an insulator. 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.

3.2 Working of Memristor

The memristor is composed of a thin (5 nm) titanium dioxide film between two electrodes as shown in figure 5(a) on the upcoming page. Initially, there are two layers to the film, one of which has a slight depletion of oxygen atoms. The oxygen vacancies act as charge carriers, meaning that the depleted layer has a much lower resistance than the non-depleted layer.

When an electric field is applied, the oxygen vacancies drift changing the boundary between the high-resistance and low-resistance layers. From the circuit-theoretic point of view, the three basic two-terminal circuit elements are defined in terms of a relationship between two of the four fundamental circuit variables, namely;the current i, the voltage v, the charge q, and the flux-linkage cp.Out of the six possible combinations of these four variables, five have led to well-known relationships . Two of these relationships are already given by 9 Q(t) = I (t) dt and O (t) = v(t) dt. . Three other relationships are given, respectively, by the axiomatic definition of the three classical circuit elements, namely, the resistor (defined by a relationship between v and i), the inductor (defined by a relationship between cp and i), and the capacitor defined by a relationship between q and v). Only one relationship remains undefined, the relationship between o and q. From the logical as well as axiomatic points of view, it is necessary for the sake of completeness to postulate the existence of a fourth basic twoterminal circuit element which is characterized by a o-q curve. This element will henceforth be called the memristor because, as will be shown later, it behaves somewhat like a nonlinear resistor with memory. The proposed symbol of a memristor and a hypothetical oq curve are shown in Fig. l(a). Using a ,mutated , a memristor with any prescribed o-q curve can be realized by connecting an appropriate nonlinear resistor, inductor, or capacitor across port 2 of an M-R mutated, an M-L mutated, and an M-C mutated, as shown in Fig. l(b), (c), and (d), respectively. These mutators, of which there are two types of each, are defined and characterized in Table I.3

Hence, a type-l M-R mutated would transform the VR -IR< curve of the nonlinear resistor f(VR, IR)=O into the corresponding o-q curve f(o,q)=O of a memristor. In contrast to this, a type-2 M-R mutated would transform the IR,VR curve of the nonlinear resistor f(IR,VR)=O into the corresponding o-q curve f(o,q) = 0 of a memristor. An analogous transformation is realized with an M-L mutated (M-C mutated) with respect to the ((oL,iL) or (iL, oL) [(vC, qC) or (qC, vC)] curve of a nonlinear inductor (capacitor).10 t Memristor and its o-q curve. Memristor basic realization o 1: M-R mutated terminated by nonlinear Resistor R. Memristor basic realization o 2: M-L mutated terminated by nonlinear inductor L Memristor basic realization M-C mutated terminated by nonlinear capacitor C

3.2.1 Mathematical Modeling

The memristor is essentially a two-terminal variable resistor, with resistance dependent upon the amount of charge q that has passed between the terminals. V=I.M(q) Where M can be defined in terms of differential equation as, M=dm/dQ

3.2.2 Memoristive system

The most basic mathematical definition of a current-controlled memristor for circuit analysis is the differential form v=R(w)i. dw/dt=i. 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. dw/dt=f(w, i). where w can be a set of state variables and R and f can in general be explicit functions of time.

3.2.3 Circuit Theoratic Properties of Memorister

By definition memristor is a charge and flux controlled device. The voltage across a charge controlled memristor is given by v(t)=M(q(t))i(t). where, M(q)=d(q)/dq. Similarly current of a flux controlled memristor is given by i(t)=W(q(t))v(t). where, W(q)=dq()/d. Since M(q) has the unit of resistance, it will henceforth be called the incremental memristance. On the basis of his studies of memristor Chua proposed some theorems:a) Passivity Criterion :A memristor characterized by a differentiable charge controlled -q curve is passive if, and only if, its incremental memristance M(q) is nonnegative; i.e., M(q)0. b) Closure Theorem: A one-port containing only memristors is equivalent to a memristor. c) Existence and Uniqueness Theorems: Any network containing only memristors with positive incremental memristances has one, and only one, solution. d) Principle of Stationary Action (Coaction): A vector q is a solution of a network N containing only charge-controlled (flux-controlled) memristors if, and only if, it is a stationary point of the total action associated with. e) Order of Complexity: Let N be a network containing resistors, inductors, capacitors, memristors, independent voltage sources, and independent current sources. Then the order of complexity m of N is given by m=(bL+bC+bM) (nM+nCE+nLM) (nM+nLJ+nCM) where bL is the total number of inductors; bc is the total number of capacitors; bM is the total number of memristors; nM is the number of independent loops containing only memristors; nCE is the number of independent loops containing only capacitors and voltage sources; nLM is the number of independent loops containing only inductors and memristors; nM is the number of independent cut sets containing only memristors; nLJ is the number of independent cut sets containing only inductors and current sources; nCM is the number of independent cut sets containing only capacitors and memristors. Chua proved his proposed theorems by mathematical mean but till now it is not demonstrated practically.

3.2.4 Physical restrictions

M(q) is physically restricted to be positive for all values of q (assuming the device is passive and does not become superconductive at some q). A negative value would mean that it would perpetually supply energy when operated with alternating current. An applied constant voltage potential results in uniformly increasing m. It is not realistic for the function M(q) to contain an infinite amount of information over this infinite range. Three alternatives avoid this physical impossibility:

M(q) approaches zero, such that m = M(q)dq = M(q(t))I(t) dt remains bounded, but continues changing at an ever-decreasing rate. M(q) is periodic, so that M(q) = M(q q) for all q and some q, e.g. sin2(q/Q). The device enters hysteresis once a certain amount of charge has passed through, or otherwise ceases to act as a memristor.