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HP Backs Memristor Mass Production
neo12 writes with news that Hewlett-Packard is teaming with Hynix Semiconductor, the world's second-largest producer of memory chips, to mass produce memristors for the first time. Quoting the BBC:
"HP says the first memristors should be widely available in about three years. The devices started as a theoretical prediction in 1971 but HP's demonstration and publication of a real working device has put them on a possible roadmap to replace memory chips or even hard drives. ... Steve Furber, professor of computer engineering at the University of Manchester, explained that the potential benefits lie in the fact that memristors are 'much simpler in principle than transistors. Because they are formed as a film between two wires, they don't have to be implanted into the silicon surface — as do transistors, which form the storage locations in Flash — so they could be built in layers in 3D,' he told BBC News. 'Of course, the devil is in the detail, and I don't think the manufacturing challenges have been fully exposed yet.'"
Can any Slashdotters chime in on this...is this technology really "the next thing", or is it "the next thing that is actually nothing"?
Living With a Nerd
Not from a physicist point of view, but from engineer's.
I mean, I know it can store data by means of variable resistance. But how do you read and write? Specific voltages, currents, frequencies? If I understand correctly, it has only two terminals like a resistor. You just apply some variable voltage and measure the current. So how can one differentiate between a write and a read?
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
3 dimensional memory cubes would be revolutionary, memory sizes could expand geometrically...(only a mild pun intended).
Also with 3 dimensions of wear leveling you probably wouldnt wear them out for a very LONG time.
Seriously, where will the work be done? Will HP set up the fab shop here, or in SK? Or set up multiple shops. I would love to see the DOD suggest to HP that they need to set up a shop here in the USA. We need to make certain that we have our electronics under control here. In addition, the DOD, NSA, etc needs to offer up contracts to American companies that produce equipment here. Why? Because we are increasingly seeing embedded virus, etc coming in from Asia.
... benefits lie in the fact [...] the devil is in the detail
I now understand why some of my foreign friends complain about how hard English is to learn. We have words that have tons of contextual meanings, and we also love to use idiomatic phrases.
Even my brain took a second on the use of the word "lie" there. And I've been speaking the damn language for my entire life.
among other things, memristive slime mold modeling and synaptic chain behaviours...
Sounds like a memristor would be ideal for simulating the weighted connections between neurons in a neural net. One step closer to real AI?
Because they are formed as a film between two wires, they don't have to be implanted into the silicon surface — as do transistors, which form the storage locations in Flash — so they could be built in layers in 3D
Cool, but will they require special glasses?
Jesus had a UNIX beard.
I can buy big bags of transistors direct from hong kong on ebay for $5 for my hobby electronics use. Will that ever be the came with the memristor or will these never be made in component size and instead restricted to larger chips that are tens of dollars or more capacities only?
I suspect that within the next 50 years someone will figure out how to make these things into biological neuron type things. Maybe Asimov correctly predicted the future of computing after all?
..I'd be a lot more excited about this. But as its HP, they'll probably kill the adoption of this tech with their subpar quality control. Thanks a lot of HP, but the best thing you can do is get your hands of this and hand it to someone who takes pride in the quality of their products. "The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."
In case you're wondering who Steve Furber is, he is also one of the original designers of the ARM CPU.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
after watching Memristor and Memristive Systems Symposium (Part 2), I'm quite excited about the analogue memory capabilities of this component.
As Greg Snyder elaborates (first talk), CMOS "neurons" interconnected by a memristive layer of "synapses" could implement a neural network much more efficiently than pure digital computation.
this is exciting!
When I first read the news a couple years ago about the first produced memristers, I was thrilled... and a little frightened. I did not expect actual AI to happen in my lifetime. The description of memristers is very well aligned with the functional description of a neuron. Given how we pack zillions of transistors into cheap, commodity hardware, this discovery will lead to a whole different level and type of computing... and even life, ... itself! I sound like a hyperbole-prone Dr. Frankenfurter on crack here, but I'm quite serious.
The description of memristers is very well aligned with the functional description of a neuron. Given how we pack zillions of transistors into cheap, commodity hardware, this discovery will lead to a whole different level and type of computing... and even life, ... itself!
It's a step closer, sure. But you're not going to see a HAL-9000 anytime soon.
A pond full of algae is a gigantic pile of single celled life, but it won't quote Shakespeare. It's not the individual neurons that are the problem. It's the arrangement.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.