Memristors and Memelements. Mathematics, Physics and Fiction

72 Pages·2023·2.009 MB·English

by  Massimiliano Di Ventra, Yuriy V. Pershin

SpringerBriefs in Physics
Massimiliano Di Ventra · Yuriy V. Pershin
Memristors and
Memelements
Mathematics, Physics and
Fiction
SpringerBriefs in Physics
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·
Massimiliano Di Ventra Yuriy V. Pershin
Memristors
and Memelements
Mathematics, Physics and Fiction
MassimilianoDiVentra YuriyV.Pershin
DepartmentofPhysics DepartmentofPhysicsandAstronomy
UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego UniversityofSouthCarolina
LaJolla,CA,USA Columbia,SC,USA
ISSN 2191-5423 ISSN 2191-5431 (electronic)
SpringerBriefsinPhysics
ISBN 978-3-031-25624-0 ISBN 978-3-031-25625-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25625-7
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Toourfamilies
Preface
Doubtisthefatherofinvention.
GalileoGalilei(1564–1642)
Whythisbook?Becausewehavenowreachedapointinwhichitisreallydifficult
toseparaterealityfromfictioninthefieldofmemristorsandothermemorycircuit
elements(memelements).
Theword“fiction”(thatweputalsointhetitle)mayseemtoostrong,butitisthe
correctone.Havingworkedinthisfieldforthepast15years,wehaveseen(atbest)
toomanyexaggerations,andquiteafewplainlywrongandoutlandishstatements.
Infact,manytimesweagreewithPauli’sfamousquote:Someofthesestatements
are“notevenwrong.”
Theseinclude“thememristoristhefourthfundamentalcircuitelement”(seriously
doubtful!), “the missing memristor was found” (it was not!), “if it’s pinched it’s a
memristor” (not true!), “resistance switching memories are memristors” (demon-
strablyfalse!),andmanyothertalltalesandmisunderstandingsthatwewillcoverin
thisshortbook.
Important! We want to make absolutely clear that our issue is not with much
scientificallysolidwork(bothexperimentalandtheoretical)thathasbeenproduced
bymanyresearchersinthefield.
Rather, this book gives us an opportunity to take stock of some of the wrong
claims we mention above and help the reader discern between scientifically valid
statements and fictional ones. It is our opinion that these statements diminish the
importanceof,anddonotlendcredibilitytoanotherwiseflourishingfield.
Thatsaid,itisthenclearthatthepresentmonographisnot areviewofthefield.
Forthat,therearesomealreadyavailable.
There is indeed a small but growing body of literature that is raising serious
objections to the above statements and others we will cover in this monograph.
However,thesevoicesarestillveryfeebleandsomewhatburiedinthemainstream
buzz.Wehopethisbookwillhelpamplifysuchvoices.
vii
viii Preface
Ourtrainingasphysicists(albeittheoreticians)compelsustoseerealityviathe
lensesofexperiments,notmathematics.Infact,
Mathematicalstatementsdonotnecessarilycorrespondtoaphysicalreality!
Itisindeedeasytobecarriedawaybythebeautyandrigorofmathematicsand
thinkthatanequationanditsconsequencesrepresentreality.Butthisisnotalways
thecase.Forinstance,theconceptofinfinityiswelldefinedinmathematics,butnotin
thephysical(experimental)sciences,becausewecannotmeasureinfinitequantities:
Ourinstrumentsarefinite.
Wewillnonethelessstartfrommathematicalstatementssince,manytimes,these
aretheonesthatcreateconfusion.Wewillthenshowthatsomeofthemdonothave
a physical counterpart. In fact, we will provide experimental tests to check their
veracity.
Afterall,ourknowledgeofthephysical,materialworldiswhatwedetectwith
oursensesandextensionsofoursenses(measurementinstruments).1Thisbookthen
challengesthecommunitytobemoregroundedinrealityratherthanfiction.
Weareawarethatthisbook(assomeofourpreviouspublications)mayputusat
oddswithmanyresearchersinthisfield.Tothis,wecanonlyanswerbyparaphrasing
Aristotle’sfamousquote:
Ourdesireistobefriendeverybody,butourbiggestdesirestillistobefriendtruth.2
It is only for this reason that we have written this book. May it then serve as a
solidanchorforpresentandfuturestudentsandresearchersinthisfield,whichhas
stillalottoofferbothintellectuallyandpractically.
LaJolla,CA,USA MassimilianoDiVentra
Columbia,SC,USA YuriyV.Pershin
December2022
1For a brief and simple introduction to the scientific method see, e.g., the book M.
Di Ventra, https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198825623.001.
0001/oso-9780198825623?rskey=4y6M82result=2 The Scientific Method: Reflections from a
Practitioner,(OxfordUniversityPress,2018).
2Andthesamephilosopherwouldsay“Truthisthatwhichconformstoreality.”
Acknowledgements
Wemustfindtimetostopandthankthepeoplewhomakea
differenceinourlives.
JohnF.Kennedy(1917–1963)
Severalpeoplehaveworkedwithustobetterunderstandthefundamentalsandappli-
cations of memory elements. In particular, we want to acknowledge the fruitful
collaborationswithSeanBearden,DaliborBiolek,FabrizioBonani,DimitriBasov,
Alessandro Braggio, Shiva Asapu, Francesco Caravelli, Leonardo Castelano, Yu-
Chang Chen, Chih-Chun Chien, Guy Cohen, Timir Datta, Vincent Dowling, Tom
Driscoll,IñigoEgusquiza,StevenLaFontaine,FrancescoGiazotto,ClaudioGuar-
cello,MikhailKatkov,JinsunKim,MattKrems,LucasLamata,AlexeyMikhaylov,
Haik Manukian, Julian Martinez-Rincon, Franco Nori, Yan Ru Pei, Sebastiano
Peotta, Paul Pfeiffer, Daniel Primosch, Mikel Sanz, Forrest Sheldon, Sergey
Shevchenko, Valeriy Slipko, Enrique Solano, Alexander Stotland, Carsten Timm,
FabioTraversa,YuanhangZhang,andXiaoZheng.
Wealsowanttothankmanycolleagues(toomanytonamehere)wehavediscussed
withovertheyears.Theirfeedbackhasalwaysbeenvaluable.Weparticularlythank
Leon Chua for our discussions on the topic of this book at an early stage and
withwhomweproposedthenotionofmemcapacitiveandmeminductiveelements.
Althoughourresearchideashavecollidedwithhisattimes—duetohisinsistence
on concepts whose validity we do not share—we still remember fondly our initial
interactions.
We are also grateful to the National Science Foundation, the Department of
Energy, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, for supporting our
researchinthefield.
Finally,specialthanksgotoourfamilieswho,throughtheirpresenceandlove,
have provided us with invaluable support and continuous encouragement over the
years.
ix