4th fundamental circuit element "found"

[Gauss]

I understand the tech level of this is somewhat high compared to these forums, but I thought I would share something I thought was extremely important for anyone interested in electronics and it is causing a buzz in a somewhat mature field.

Researchers Prove Existence of New Basic Element for Electronic Circuits -- 'Memristor'

Basically, in circuit theory people are taught that there are three building blocks of that can completely describe a circuit: Resistance, Capacitance and Inductance. Boring shit aside, the equations governing the relationship between these building blocks predicted more things than we observe physically, predicting actually one more such fundamental element which was dubbed the memristor because its expected properties were to act like resistance that was a function of current over past time and not just current time (i.e. it had some memory of the past current flowing through it that is reflected in its current resistance).

We emulate some properties of the memristor with nonvolatile memory, but such constructs are complicated, relatively speaking, and since the original article (not the one I have linked) shows that memristor properties are apparent at the nanoscale, which provides a potential method to continue Moore's law for a bit longer. Personally, I believe most of the applications given in the article are bombast, but I definitely agree that having a computer whose transistors "remember" past current immediately lends itself to the idea of computers that boot almost instantly, which is exciting for PC users. I will somewhat agree with the idea that past current can leave an "impression" on the memristor to *possibly* lead to something akin to creature-like learning capabilities, but how to accomplish it isn't immediately apparent.

Final note: No idea where they grabbed that picture from in the article with the "memristors" in an array; The original Nature article is entirely equations and simulation results.

[dak]

Oh shit flux capacitors are real?! We can finally make the DeLorean time machine.

[slitz]

Originally Posted by Gauss

...shows that memristor properties are apparent at the nanoscale, which provides a potential method to continue Moore's law for a bit longer.

Thank you! 8)
Very cool indeed

[Cybsled]

In terms of insta-boot PCs, weren't they looking at doing that with that new type of RAM they have developed that is essentially like flash RAM + a hard drive?

[Jenison]

I understand the tech level of this is somewhat high compared to these forums

WE POST ON FORUMS! YEAAAAAAAAA!

[The Dauntless One]

Originally Posted by Cybsled

In terms of insta-boot PCs, weren't they looking at doing that with that new type of RAM they have developed that is essentially like flash RAM + a hard drive?

Magnetic ram... it's used for small application but definitely not for computer anytime soon.

[mek]

Well fuck, I guess it's Skynet after all. Better finish my fallout shelter.

[Deathwing]

Pretty cool, you can use this to emulate Moore's Law, not continue strictly speaking. Moore's Law states transistor count will double every 18 months. That are limitations to that already, mainly heat and ability to consistently manufacture smaller transistors, none of which this new device solves.

However, since you can now have multiple states to a transistor instead of just on and off, you can emulate Moore's Law through the processing power returns that doubling the transistor count would have brought.

Personally, I think multiple-state transistors will be fucking cool, kinda like those 3-state diodes the Russians had back in the 60's.

[Yutnopash]

Originally Posted by Jenison

WE POST ON FORUMS! YEAAAAAAAAA!

I lol'd.

[vurt]

Neat stuff. I expect the most exciting implementations of memristors will come out of left field.