HP turns theory into fact with memristor memory

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 01 May 2008 02:18

Your IT - Home IT

It's been 37 years since Leon Chua hypothesised the existence of the memristor - the 'missing' basic electronic circuit element to complement the capacitor, resistor and inductor - but Hewlett-Packard scientists have finally made one.

Researchers at HP Labs' Information and Quantum Systems Lab, led by Stanley Williams, have reported the construction of a working memristor, a component that 'remembers' how much current has passed through it.

"To find something new and yet so fundamental in the mature field of electrical engineering is a big surprise, and one that has significant implications for the future of computer science," said Williams.

"By providing a mathematical model for the physics of a memristor, HP Labs has made it possible for engineers to develop integrated circuit designs that could dramatically improve the performance and energy efficiency of PCs and data centers."

Energy efficiency is an increasingly important consideration for organisations running data centres. Apart from green concerns, the maximum amount of power available at a particular site is becoming a limiting factor on the amount of computing equipment that can be installed.

HP officials said a memristor-based computer would retain information when switched off, and would not need to be rebooted when powered up again. Avoiding the reboot process would avoid the use of energy that is not put to useful work, and would simplify the task of running systems on an on-demand basis.

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