Hewlett-Packard just announced the successful prototype of a new computer memory it’s calling memristor, which is short for memory resistor. Among other advancements, it could usher in a generation of computers that require zero boot time.

That’s because memristor has the ability to store store data for a long time without electrical current, according to The Wall Street Journal. Memristor memory shares that in common with flash memory, but differs in that will be able to store data for longer than a year.

Memristor also has the potential to drastically reduce power consumption during regular computer use as it relieves the need to draw a constant electrical current.

A continuing trend toward miniaturization is pushing technology like HP’s memristor and phase-change memory from rival Intel. Flash memory soon will be too bulky if the demand for tight form factors stays strong.

Memristor works on the sub-molecular level. HP’s lead researcher on the project, R. Stanley Williams says “the memristor remembers because what’s happening is you actually change the atomic structure of the memristor as charge flows through it. That’s different from any other device.”

In essence, the technology works by measuring resistance to the flow of electricity. Wikipedia explains it well, “memristor effectively stores information because the level of its electrical resistance changes when current is applied. Where a typical resistor provides a stable level of resistance, a memristor can have a high level of resistance which can be interpreted in a computer as a “1″ in data terms, and a low level can be interpreted as a “0.” Thus, data can be recorded and rewritten by controlling current. In a sense, a memristor is a variable resistor that, through its resistance, reflects its own history.”

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 9:19 pm under Science and technology, Technology.

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