Fourier Response of a Memristor: Generation of High Harmonics with Increasing Weights

We investigate the Fourier transform of the current through a memristor when the applied-voltage frequency is smaller than the characteristic memristor frequency, and the memristor shows hysteresis in the current-voltage plane. We find that when the hysteresis curve is "smooth", the current Fourier transform has weights at odd and even harmonics that decay rapidly and monotonically with the order of the harmonic; when the hysteresis curve is "sharp", the Fourier transform of the current is significantly broader, with non-monotonic weights at high harmonics. We present a simple model which shows that this qualitative change in the Fourier spectrum is solely driven by the saturation of memristance during a voltage cycle, and not independently by various system parameters such as applied or memristor frequencies, and the non-linear dopant drift.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

THE MEMRISTOR: FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF A HYSTERETIC DEVICE

poster abstractThe memristor, postulated in the 1970’s, was recently realized in a tita-nium dioxide thin-film device and is now being commercially developed. Memristor, short for memory resistor, is the fourth fundamental circuit ele-ment whose instantaneous resistance depends not only on the voltage, but also on the history of the voltage applied to it. We investigate the frequency response of the current through a memristor due to an externally applied periodic voltage with the application of an algorithmic code using MATLAB. With these results, we are able to understand the characteristic response that this device displays for each corresponding input voltage frequency. Due to the range of response exhibited, there is the possibility of using this device in circuits to produce entirely new functions. We expect that this analysis will have implications for scientific advancement in both circuitry development as well as neuroscience due to a memristor’s ability to perform logic operations and store information. This work is supported by the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program and a UROP grant (N.M.) and the NSF (Y.J.)