Communications of the ACM
Electronics 'Missing Link' Brings Neural Computing Closer
Memristors may soon be used to create computer circuitry.
Credit: Patrick Landmann / Science Photo Library
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Assistant Professor Wei Lu is leading a research effort to make brain-like computers using memristors. Memristors behave similarly to the junctions between neurons in the brain, and the way they establish their resistance to voltage by providing a glimpse of an earlier voltage is similar to the way that a synapse's electrical behavior is dependent on past activity.
Lu's team used a silicon and silver mixture to join metal electrodes where they cross, creating a junction that mimics a behavior of synapses that allows neurons to learn new firing patterns, and is believed to allow memories to be stored. "The memristor mimics synaptic action," Lu says.
The next step is create circuits using thousands of memristor synapses, he says.
From New Scientist
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