SPICE modeling of flux-controlled unipolar memristive devices

Unipolar memristive devices are an important kind of resistive switching devices. However, few circuit models of them have been proposed. In this paper, we propose the SPICE modeling of flux-controlled unipolar memristive devices based on the memristance versus state map. Using our model, the flux thresholds, ON and OFF resistance, and compliance current can easily be set as model parameters. We simulate the model in HSPICE using model parameters abstracted from real devices, and the simulation results show that the proposed model caters to the real device data very well, thus demonstrating that the model is correct. Using the same modeling methodology, the SPICE model of charge-controlled unipolar memristive devices could also be developed. The proposed model could be used to model resistive memory cells, logical gates as well as synapses in artificial neural networks.     

Feedback write scheme for memristive switching devices

In nanoscale memristive switching devices, the statistical distribution of resistance values and other relevant parameters for device operation often exhibits a lognormal distribution, causing large fluctuations of memristive analog state variables after each switching event, which may be problematic for digital nonvolatile memory applications. The state variable w in such devices has been proposed to be the length of an undoped semiconductor region along the thickness of the thin film that acts as a tunnel barrier for electronic transport across it. The dynamical behavior of w is governed by the drift diffusion of ionized dopants such as oxygen vacancies. Making an analogy to scanning tunneling microscopes (STM), a closed-loop write scheme using current feedback is proposed to switch the memristive devices in a controlled manner. An integrated closed-loop current driver circuit for switching a bipolar memristive device is designed and simulated. The estimated upper limit of the feedback loop bandwidth is in the order of 100 MHz. We applied a SPICE model built upon the TiO₂ memristive switching dynamics to simulate the single-device write operation and found the closed-loop write scheme caused a narrowing of the statistical distribution of the state variable w.     

An ionic bottle for high-speed,long-retention memristive devices

We derived analytical formulas to estimate the effective thermal resistance of a metallic cylinder subjected to Joule heating, surrounded by an insulator and bounded by two constant temperature planes in order to estimate the temperature of the hottest point of the system. These solutions are especially relevant for modeling unipolar resistive switches (or memristive devices), and they provide insight into the performance tradeoffs for a thermally driven reset transition. In particular, our results indicate that a minimum current of 1 μA is required to successfully reset a unipolar switch, even under the most favorable conditions.     

忆阻电路降维建模与特性分析

通过对蔡氏忆阻电路的数学建模分析,提出了忆阻电路动力学建模的降维问题.以包含两个磁控忆阻器的忆阻电路为例,进行了忆阻电路降维建模,由此建立了一个三维系统模型.基于该模型,分析了忆阻电路的平衡点和稳定性,研究了电路参数变化时忆阻电路的动力学特性.进一步,对包含两个磁控忆阻器的忆阻电路常规模型的分析结果和其降维模型的分析结果进行了比较.结果表明:忆阻电路降维模型的维数只与电容器的数量和电感器的数量有关,而与忆阻器的数量无关;当电路参数变化时忆阻电路存在分岔模式共存等非线性现象;降维建模降低了系统建模复杂度,有利于系统的动力学特性分析,但消除了忆阻器内部状态变量的初始条件对忆阻电路动力学特性的影响.     

Thermally- or optically-biased memristive switching in two-terminal VO2 devices

We investigated thermally- or optically-biased memristive switching in two-terminal micro devices based on vanadium dioxide (VO₂) thin films. For the preparation of multi-level resistance switching, the device was kept at a specific temperature or an optical illumination power so that it fell into the thermal or optical hysteresis region of the device resistance during the switching. With the application of external current pulses, the device resistance decreased in a discrete manner showing multiple resistance levels, each of which was maintained as long as the temperature (or optical) bias excited the device. In particular, in the optically-biased case, the effect of the pulse-free interval between current pulses on the device resistance was also examined with respect to three intervals including 10, 15, and 30 s. It was observed that a longer pulse-free interval and higher optical bias reduced the rate of current-induced change in the device resistance. Finally, in order to explore a trend of grain resistance change in the VO₂-based device, we carefully suggested a grain network model explaining a percolative transition in inhomogeneous VO₂ film.     

嵌入Ag纳米颗粒层的DNA忆阻器

构建了具有“Al/DNA-CTMAB/Ag NPs/DNA-CTMAB/ITO”结构的有机忆阻器件, 并对其电流-电压 (I-V)曲线进行测量. 结果表明, 嵌入Ag纳米颗粒层, 不仅可以增强器件的导电性, 而且忆阻特性也显著提高. 当颗粒粒径在15–20 nm范围时, 开-关电流比I_ON/I_OFF能够达到10³. 器件的I-V特性受扫描电压幅值V_A的影响, 随着V_A的增大, 高阻态的电流变化较小, 而低阻态的电流明显增大, 开(或关)电压V_SET (V_RESET)和I_ON/I_OFF增加. 实验还发现, 器件高低阻状态的相互转换取决于外加电场的方向, 说明该忆阻器具有极性.     

Synaptic behaviors and modeling of a metal oxide memristive device

Nanoscale memristive devices using tungsten oxide as the switching layer have been fabricated and characterized. The devices show the characteristics of a flux-controlled memristor such that the conductance change is governed by the history of the applied voltage signals, leading to synaptic behaviors including long-term potentiation and depression. The memristive behavior is attributed to the migration of oxygen vacancies upon bias which modulates the interplay between Schottky barrier emission and tunneling at the WO _X /electrode interface. A physical model incorporating ion drift and diffusion effects using an internal state variable representing the area of the conductive region has been proposed to explain the observed memristive behaviors. A SPICE model has been further developed that can be directly incorporated into existing circuit simulators. This type of device can be fabricated with low-temperature processes and has potential applications in synaptic computations and as analog circuit components.     

Utilizing NDR effect to reduce switching threshold variations in memristive devices

Variations in the switching threshold voltage of memristive devices present significant challenges for their integration into large-scale circuits. In this paper, we propose to address this problem by adding a device exhibiting S-type (N-type) negative differential resistance (NDR) in series (parallel) with memristive devices. The main effect comes from the transition between low- and high-conductivity branches of the NDR device, which leads to a redistribution of the voltage drop inside the device stack, and, as a result, the effective lowering of variations in the switching threshold. The idea is checked experimentally using a TiO_2?x memristive device connected in parallel with a tunnel GaAs diode.     

A generalized model of TiO_x-based memristive devices and its application for image processing

Memristive technology has been widely explored, due to its distinctive properties, such as nonvolatility, high density,versatility, and CMOS compatibility. For memristive devices, a general compact model is highly favorable for the realization of its circuits and applications. In this paper, we propose a novel memristive model of TiO_x-based devices, which considers the negative differential resistance(NDR) behavior. This model is physics-oriented and passes Linn's criteria. It not only exhibits sufficient accuracy(IV characteristics within 1.5% RMS), lower latency(below half the VTEAM model),and preferable generality compared to previous models, but also yields more precise predictions of long-term potentiation/depression(LTP/LTD). Finally, novel methods based on memristive models are proposed for gray sketching and edge detection applications. These methods avoid complex nonlinear functions required by their original counterparts. When the proposed model is utilized in these methods, they achieve increased contrast ratio and accuracy(for gray sketching and edge detection, respectively) compared to the Simmons model. Our results suggest a memristor-based network is a promising candidate to tackle the existing inefficiencies in traditional image processing methods.     

Cost-effective fabrication of memristive devices with ZnO thin film using printed electronics technologies

A prototype memristive device has been presented in this paper, for which the top and bottom electrodes have been fabricated through a simple and cost-effective technique, i.e. electrohydrodynamic printing. For deposition of the bottom electrode pattern, a silver ink containing 60 wt% silver by content was subjected to controlled flow through a metal capillary exposed to an electric field at the ambient temperature to generate an electrohydrodynamic jet, thereby depositing uniform patterns of silver on glass substrate at a constant substrate speed. The top electrode has been deposited in a similar fashion. In between the top and bottom electrodes, a uniform layer of ZnO is fabricated using spin-coating technique. The nanoscale ZnO memristor stack has a channel length of 370 μm and channel width of 82 μm. A memristor thus fabricated was characterized and its current voltage curves were analyzed. The device showed a typical nonvolatile resistive switching behavior present in memristor devices thus highlighting the EHD printed patterning as a reliable method for the fabrication of memory devices.     

Design and modeling of microwave photonic devices

Different types of finite element methods (FEMs) for microwave and optical waveguides are reviewed and are utilized for modeling of a traveling-wave (TW) optical modulator, as one of the typical microwave photonic devices. Using the quasi-TEM and the full-wave vector FEM solvers for microwave waveguides and the scalar FEM solver for optical waveguides, the behaviour of a TW Z-cut Ti:LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder optical modulator with a ridge structure is investigated.     

Effective potential approach to modeling of 25 nm MOSFET devices

We present a thermodynamic approach to introducing quantum corrections to the classical transport picture in semiconductor device simulation. The approach leads to a modified Boltzmann equation with an effective quantum potential that takes into account the Hartree and the barrier contributions. We study the influence of the quantum effects on the device output current.     

基于神经网络的电子器件分段建模方法

针对电路仿真领域中对具有复杂非线性特性的电子器件不能采用单-神经网络建模问题,提出了一种分段建模方法,降低了模型的复杂度,并通过对稳压二极管的建模验证了该方法的有效性.     

Intrinsic constrains on thermally-assisted memristive switching

We derived analytical formulas to estimate the effective thermal resistance of a metallic cylinder subjected to Joule heating, surrounded by an insulator and bounded by two constant temperature planes in order to estimate the temperature of the hottest point of the system. These solutions are especially relevant for modeling unipolar resistive switches (or memristive devices), and they provide insight into the performance tradeoffs for a thermally driven reset transition. In particular, our results indicate that a minimum current of 1 μA is required to successfully reset a unipolar switch, even under the most favorable conditions.     

忆阻器及其阻变机理研究进展

忆阻器是除电阻、电容、电感之外的第四种电路元件,在信息存储、逻辑运算和神经网络等研究领域具有重要的应用前景.本文综述了忆阻器以及忆阻器材料的研究进展,主要介绍了忆阻器的内涵与特征、阻变机理、材料类型以及应用前景,指出了目前忆阻器研究中需要关注的主要问题,并对以后的发展趋势进行了展望.     

Electrical properties of an organic memristive system

We present a study on an organic resistive switching device based on the heterojunction of a thin conducting polyaniline (PANI) layer and a ions containing gel (or solution). We have studied the device, characterized by a non-linear and rectifying response to the applied voltage, as a function of some chemical and geometrical parameters such as solution pH, ions concentration and junction contact area, finding out their influence on the device electrical parameters such as the saturation current, the activation voltage, and the response time. The study leads us to develop a physical model of the device and control its response through the fabrication process predicting also interesting properties obtainable with a device miniaturization.     

Improved Dirichlet-to-Neumann map method for modeling extended photonic crystal devices

A typical photonic crystal (PhC) device has only a small number of distinct unit cells. The Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN) map of a unit cell is an operator that maps the wave field to its normal derivative on the boundary of the cell. Based on the DtN maps of the unit cells, a PhC device can be efficiently analyzed by solving the wave field only on edges of the unit cells. In this paper, the DtN map method is further improved by an operator marching method assuming that a main propagation direction can be identified in at least part of the device. A Bloch mode expansion method is also developed for structures exhibiting partial periodicity. Both methods are formulated on a set of curves for maximum flexibility. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the efficiency of the improved DtN map method.     

Analytical and numerical modeling of resonant piezoelectric devices in China-A review

The results on theoretical and numerical modeling of resonant piezoelectric devices in China are reviewed. Solutions to dynamic problems of the propagation of bulk acoustic waves (BAW), surface acoustic waves (SAW), vibrations of finite bodies, and analyses of specific devices are discussed. Results from both the ultrasonics community and mechanics researchers are included. It is hoped that the paper will be useful for the understanding, communication and collaboration between Chinese and foreign scholars. The paper may also be helpful for bridging the gap between ultrasonics and mechanics researchers on piezoelectricity research. The paper contains 316 references.     

Cascade discrete memristive maps for enhancing chaos

Continuous-time memristor (CM) has been widely used to generate chaotic oscillations. However, discrete memristor (DM) has not been received adequate attention. Motivated by the cascade structure in electronic circuits, this paper introduces a method to cascade discrete memristive maps for generating chaos and hyperchaos. For a discrete-memristor seed map, it can be self-cascaded many times to get more parameters and complex structures, but with larger chaotic areas and Lyapunov exponents. Comparisons of dynamic characteristics between the seed map and cascading maps are explored. Meanwhile, numerical simulation results are verified by the hardware implementation.