Homework 5

Carlos Rebelo
100294
BSc in Engineering Physics

January 14, 2023

1 Problem 1
1.1
The memristor produces by HP Labs in 2008 was made of a layer of titanium dioxide between two
electrodes of Platinum. The layer of titanium dioxide was divided in a stoichometric (T iO2 ) and
oxygen deficient/doped (T iO2−x ) sub-layers. A representation of the structure is present in Figure 1.
The titanium layer was approximately 50 nm thick, with the electrodes being 5 nm thick each.

Figure 1: Representation of a memristor

1.2
The resistance of the memristor is controlled by the thickness of the T iO2 layer, because this material
is considered to be an insulator (because of its band-gap), while the doped sub-layer is very conductive.
The principle of functioning resides on the fact that the vacancies on the doped sub-layer are positively
charged. By applying a positive voltage to the memristor, these positive gaps will tend to move into the
stoichometric layer, expanding the thickness of the doped layer (in opposition to the undoped layer).
On the other hand, if a negative voltage is applied to the memristor, the opposite effect is verified, and
the undoped layer increases its thickness. These changes in the thicknesses of the sub-layers reflect
in changes of the resistance of the memristor, because, if a positive voltage is applied, the undoped
(insulator) layer is smaller and, consequently, the resistance decreases. However, if a negative voltage
is applied, the undoped layer is bigger and the resistance increases. In Figure 1, the w represents the
thickness of the doped layer, which is essential to determine the resistance value at a certain time.

1.3
A non-volatile memory is a type of memory that can retain its information (bit state) even after its
power supply is turned off. Because the mobility of the vacancies on the doped sub-layer (mentioned

1
in the previous section) is very low, the sub-layer’s thickness will be retained even after the voltage
is removed. This shows the parallelism between non-volatile memories and memristors and indicates
that memristors could possibly be used as a type of non-volatile memory, where the resistance value
would indicate the bit stored. This would work as a non-volatile memory, because even after the bit
is written (with voltage applied), it would retain its bit state (with no voltage).

2 Problem 2
2.1
By the expression 12.1, considering that V = RI, the expression for R(t) is given by:

w(t) w(t)
R(t) = Ron + Rof f (1 − ) (1)
D D
w(t)
Considering the variable change x(t) = D , Equation 1 is:

R(t) = Ron x(t) + Rof f (1 − x(t)) (2)

In the previous expressions, Ron and Rof f are the minimum and maximum resistance that the mem-
ristor can have, respectively.

2.2
The variable w(t) represents the thickness of the doped sub-layer, and D is the total thickness of the
titanium dioxide layer, as it is shown in Figure 1. The variable x(t) is a normalized variable that
expresses the size of the doped sub-layer, in comparison to the total layer, and it is essential to the
determination of the resistance value, because of what was explained in the previous section, i.e. the
resistance depends on the size of the sub-layers at a given time, and the bigger the thickness of the
doped sub-layer, the lower the resistance value is (which is expressed in Equation 2).

2.3
w(t)
Considering the equation 12.2 of the article, and remembering that x(t) = D , it is given that:

dx µD Ron
= I(t) (3)
dt D2
dx V
In order to have a differential equation on the form of dt = F (x, t), and considering I = R, Equation 3
can be written as Equation 4.

dx µD Ron V (t)
= (4)
dt D2 Ron x(t) + Rof f (1 − x(t))

It is necessary to impose 0 ≤ x(t) ≤ 1, simply because the thickness of the doped sub-layer w(t) is
always positive (or in the case of not existing a doped sub-layer, zero), as well as the total thickness
D, and w(t) has always to be less or (in the limit) equal than the total thickness. Also, by Equation 2,
the same limits for x(t) are given , due to the fact that Ron ≤ R ≤ Rof f .

2
3 Problem 3
3.1
The plots are the following:

(a) Plot [1] - V(t) (b) Plot [2] - x(t)

(c) Plot [3] - I(t) (d) Plot [4]- I(V)

(e) Plot [5] - R(t)

3
3.2
The memory properties of a memristor are exhibited on the plot [4], which shows a hysteresis curve.
This plot shows that, for each voltage, there is not only one corresponding current value. This means
that the value of current in a certain time depends on past values. For example, the current may
increase gradually until it reaches a plateau zone if the voltage is raised gradually from a low value to
a high value. The current may not return to its initial value if the voltage is gradually reduced back to
the low value. Instead, it may take a different course, depending on the history of the voltage applied
to the device. This behaviour exhibits the memory properties of a memristor.

4
4 Problem 4
4.1
The plots are the following:

(a) Plot Square Wave Voltage Source [1] - V(t) (b) Plot Square Wave Voltage Source [2] - x(t)

(c) Plot Square Wave Voltage Source [3] - I(t) (d) Plot Square Wave Voltage Source [4]- I(V)

(e) Plot Square Wave Voltage Source [5] - R(t)

5
4.2
The resistance increases when the doped layer thickness decreases, and in order for this to happen,
the voltage applied needs to be negative, as it was stated in exercise 2. Because the lower limit of
voltage is zero, the voltage is always positive or zero, and this means that the positive gaps in the
doped layer move into the undoped layer, leading to a bigger x(t) (as it is observed) and decreasing
the resistance, for positive voltage. When the voltage is zero (in practice, when it is inferior to 0.5V,
because of the threshold that was applied in the beginning), there are no changes in the resistance,
because of the memory properties of the memristor, i.e. it can maintain its state even when there is no
voltage applied. Comparing to the Figure 2e, it is visible that in the first one the resistance decreases
when the voltage is negative, which never happens in the second situation.

4.3
The values of a and b are a = -0.5 and b = 0.5, because it it the voltage threshold defined in the
beginning.

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5 Problem 5
5.1
The plots are the following:

(a) Plot V(t) (b) Plot x(t)

(c) Plot I(t) (d) Plot I(V)

(e) Plot R(t)

7
5.2
Firstly, is important to obtain the value of x for which the resistance is 50000 ohm:

R = Ron x(t) + Rof f (1 − x(t))

⇐⇒ 50000 = 10000(10 − 9x) (5)
5
⇐⇒ x =
9

It is possible to get the t corresponding to that x value, numerically. The value is tcut = 0.352s

5.3
The reason why the resistance does not change for t > tcut is the same for the last exercise. The voltage
that is applied after tcut is less than the threshold voltage. This means that dxdt = 0, whose physical
meaning is the doped sub-layer thickness having a constant size (x constant). As it was stated before,
the thickness of the sub-layers define the resistance value, and for constant thicknesses, the resistance
is also constant (mathematically, it is trivial, by Equation 2).

6 Problem 6
By analyzing the previous examples, with a voltage of 0.6V, it was determined that the time interval
between the instant where x = 0.56 (corresponding to the desired resistance) and x = 0.8 was about
t = 0.143s. By using this information, a possible Voltage Source Curve that would end up in a
resistance of 50kOhm would be:
(
−0.6V, 0 ≤ t ≤ 0.143s
V (t) = (6)
0, 0.143s < t ≤ 1s

In this case, the voltage has to be negative, so the positive gaps of the doped sub-layer move in its
direction, and increases the thickness of the undoped sub-layer, increasing the resistance.

7 Problem 7
One possible approach to use the memristor as a memory device would begin by defining the bit states
using different resistance values. This could be done by setting the memristor’s resistance to a high
value (Rhigh ) to represent a logic ”1” and a low value (Rlow ) to represent a ”0”. Then, the way of
storing a bit would be by applying a voltage pulse to the memristor that would be sufficient to change
its resistance from Rlow to Rhigh (or vice versa). In order to read the bit stored without changing
its value, the resistance of the memristor would have to be measured using a suitable measurement
technique. Examples of these techniques are the four-point probe, where our electrical contact points
are carefully positioned to minimize the current flowing through the device during the measurement,
minimizing possible effects that could change the resistance on the memristor, and also measuring
with the help of a high impedance multimeter, where the current flowing through the device during
the measurement is minimized by using a very high input impedance. Then, after measuring, if the
resistance is close to Rhigh , this indicates a logic ”1” has been stored. However, ff the resistance is
close to Rlow , then it indicates a ”0” stored on the memristor.