The researchers who work for Hewlett-Packard have developed a working unit of a memory circuit that exists already in theory for 37 years. This new technology could ultimately replace RAM and make computers more intelligent by tracking data it has retained. This technology, called memristor, could allow computers to make decisions by understanding past patterns of data it has collected. In other words, memristor would have properties similar to a synapse in a brain.
A memristor circuit requires lower voltage and less time to turn on than other competitive memories such as DRAM and flash, thus it uses much less power. Memristor circuits can also store more data than flash memory. Memristor is the fourth fundamental circuit element (the other three are resistor, capacitor and inductor) and has properties that cannot be reproduced by any combination of the other three elements.
HP is not going to reproduce all the functions of a brain in memristor, but the company tries to build a simple computing machine that operates on a different principle from today's computers. The scientists have created the memory by applying a charge on a circuit with blocks of titanium dioxide. The actual resistance of the memristor changes depends on the amount of current flowing through the circuit. When the current is turned off, the memory retains the information it has acquired.
Although the concept of memristor has been real for some years, the memory prototype is an academic device that will first work its way to academia, but it really could hit the commercial semiconductor market in five years.
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