The Missing Link in Electonics

There are groups of researchers at the Hewlett-Packard facilities announced that they have developed a new circuit element that is alleged to imitate some of the human biological functions. According to the report, the new device is called a memristor and will account for smaller and more rapid computers in the near future.

Basically, this can be used in high-density computer memory chips that would draw smaller amounts of power as compared to the existing DRAM semiconductors. A memristor is an electrical resistor with memory properties that comes with additional logic capabilities, which makes it extremely suitable for reprogrammable chips.

This Memristors are built from tiny particles of titanium dioxide that act like nano-switches. Worldwide researchers have been struggling to achieve molecule-sized titanium switches for more than 10 years now, in order to find a suitable replacement for the existing transistors. The technology comes at a time when transistors are close to reaching their miniaturization limits imposed by the photolithographic techniques.

The new circuit element will consume less power as compared to the already existing CPU and memory technologies and, at the same time, it will allow manufacturers to create smaller chips with a longer lifespan.