future of memristors

[ke5frf]

OK so I was reading the other day about the new development in "memristor" technology. Well, new to me anyway. I think it was announced a year or so ago.

Supposedly, it will improve computer RAM, making it unneccessary to reboot a computer and read data from a drive...holding memory when depowered as last-state voltage sets analog memristors. Basically an analog computer, right? Or really, a silicon brain, right?

I think I get the gist.

I read that someone claimed memristors would be considered a new 4th "fundamental" in electronics, like inductors, capacitors, resistors.

The obvious implications for computing are there, but can this also revolutionize non-memory based electronics? Can circuits as simple as oscillators and timers be reengineered and improved with memristor technology, possibly spurring entirely new technologies? What would the implications be for radio, sonar, audio, etc? Anything viable that we can dream up?

I'm not exactly sure how memristors work yet, and I'm not the most imaginitive sort

 

[EN0]

All computers are digital now, I don't think you'd ever find one unless you discovered some old computer. Back in the early days of computers they were analog, but now virtually everything catoragized as "computer" is digital. Scientists recently developed a transistor that had the width of an atom. This could certainly revolutionize the size of most electronics.

 

[ke5frf]

All computers are digital now, I don't think you'd ever find one unless you discovered some old computer. Back in the early days of computers they were analog, but now virtually everything catoragized as "computer" is digital. Scientists recently developed a transistor that had the width of an atom. This could certainly revolutionize the size of most electronics.

LOL.

Of course all computers are digital.

Do you know anything about the memristor dicovery though?

We aren't talking about modern computers, we are talking about future computers that will be using memristors, incorporating their analog advantages into future computers. These devices are extrememly tiny and have voltage/current dependant memory (analog), which will be able to store data in an analog manner rather than hi-low voltage states. Incremental resistance changes that freeze with the last voltage level applied if I understand it.

This will work much like the brain, which is analog, and far superior than any silicon device at least in adaptability and function, if perhaps lacking in dependability LOL.

Do you see where that is going? Just because the current state of the art is digital, that doesn't mean that advancements in analog technology can't revolutionize things once again. Actually, grasshopper, digital predates analog!!! Think Morse Code, abacus, heck your fingers and toes

Another example, at one time parallel communication was the fastest thing around, until serial ports were made better with faster processors. In theory, parallel communication is "superior", but in practice computer speeds are so fast now that the difference is nominal and the reliability of serial trumps any speed advantage of parallel...am I not correct?

That doesn't mean that someone might figure out a better way to communicate with parallel lines, but until then serial communication is more commonplace. Parallel ports are for printers LOL.

It isn't set in stone that digital is better.

 

[Sceadwian]

They've been proven to be makeable, turning that discovery into a practical reliable technology will likley take years. Going from proof of concept's like the first memresistors were to a full production environment is a giant hurdle because end costs can't be calculated, so you could end up investing millions of dollars into something that turns out just isn't technically practical on a consumer device level. From practical proof to even the idea of being able to mass produce something like that is probably in the neighborhood of 5-10 years away.

You shouldn't read science news like this at face value, it's just media sensationalism at it's worst. Major breakthroughs like this are announced weekly if not more, so few of them pan out to be practical in the real world and even fewer turn out to be practical on a mass consumer scale that it's nothing more than science entertainment.