nanoREV.

Memristor and Memristive Systems Symposium 2010

Engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, academics and students (both graduate and undergraduate) are invited to attend this symposium, held in conjunction with IEEE CNNA 2010 — the International Workshop on Cellular Nanoscale Networks and Applications, Feb. 3-5.
To register please visit http://memristor.ucmerced.edu  

The 2010 symposium will cover:

Memristor technology updates
New device technologies (materials and fabrication)
Device models for CAD
Novel circuits using memristors
Systems architecture harnessing memristor and memristive device properties
A poster session will held as a part of the CNNA 2010 on February 3.

Symposium registration is free.

Memristor History

Memristor the missing basic circuit element, was first proposed in 1971 in a seminal paper published by Professor Leon O. Chua. The concept gained a broader scope in a paper co-published by Leon Chua and Sung Mo Kang in 1976. In 2008, Stan Williams, et al. at HP Labs unveiled a two-terminal titanium dioxide nanoscale device that exhibited memristor and memristive characteristics, thus igniting renewed interest in memristors.
Co-sponsored by UC Merced, UC Berkeley and HP Labs. Funded by the National Science Foundation.

The first symposium on Memristor and Memristive Systems, held at UC Berkeley on November 21-22, 2008, inspired novel circuit applications and new efforts to develop memristors using various types of materials and nanoparticles, and also novel circuit applications and CAD models.

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HRL researchers to build brain-like microcircuitry with nanosynapses

A press release from HRL Laboratories discusses their recent work in developing neuromorphic electronics which emulate the functioning of the human brain by using artificial synapses formed from nanoscale junctions. This development is in conjunction with work done by HPLabs on memristive neural networks supported by DARPA’s SyNAPSE project.

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Hewlett Packard Selling Molecular Electronics Patents

Since the late 1990’s HPLabs has arguably been the leading corporate contributor to the development of molecular electronics and have obtained numerous patents on the application of molecular switching elements to novel memory and logic systems. However, in recent years HP has shifted directions from molecular switching elements toward resistive thin film switches called memristors which may be easier to fabricate using existing semiconductor process capabilities.  As an apparent byproduct of this shift in direction HP is selling several of their molecular electronics patents using an online patent auction available at this link. The sale for this patent lot entitled “Next Generation Device” is set to expire on October 8, 2009.

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The Rise of Crossbar Non-volatile Memory and Neuromorphic Computing

The Europeon Union have recently supported the creation of a project called VERSATILE which is focusing on the examination of crossbar architectures for the creation of non-volatile memory. Crossbar architectures have been applied to the creation of programmable logic devices in the past few decades but only recently have been proposed at the nanometer level by companies such as Hewlett-Packard (using nanowires) and Nantero (using nanotubes). One key advantages of using crossbar architectures for memory is that they would be able to provide resources useful for both reconfigurable computing and for data storage. This is in strict contrast to conventional processor architectures which segregate the memory circuitry from the logic circuitry and is closer to the type of organization found in the brain which integrates signal processing and memory storage.

While start-up companies such as Numonyx and Unity Semiconductor are focusing on crossbar architectures for non-volatile memory, DARPA has not overlooked the more far reaching applications of this technology and has created a program called SYNAPSE to fund IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and HRL Labs to conduct research in neuromorphic  (i.e. brainlike) computational architectures based on some of the crossbar architectures.

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Thomson Reuters releases lists of hottest areas of R&D IP

Thomas Reuters has released a list of what it calls the hottest areas of R&D in the global intellectual property marketplace.  The list includes IP rankings for the biofuels, telecom and bio-related nanotechnology industries which have been experiencing increased growth in the last few years.  The report also identifies some of the more active companies in each field.

Relying on data from the Derwent World Patents Index®, the report cites that patenting activity in the area of bio-related nanotechnology grew 160% between 2003 and 2008 to 7,399 patents.  It appears that further growth through 1Q-2009 has brought that total to 9,842, with Japan followed by the US leading in top assignees and top countires for filing patents.   Meanwhile the report also states that the volume of issued patents for lab-on-a-chip technology has risen by 220% during the same time.  

While the phrase “issued patents” is used throughout, the report discloses that both granted patents and published applications were included in the analysis.   Additionally, it is unclear what search keywords were used to gather the data.  Thus, some relevant patents and applications could easily have been overlooked, especially if an inadequate or narrow search criteria was adopted by the analyst authors. 

A pdf of the report is available here: http://ip.thomsonreuters.com/media/pdfs/InnovationHotSpots_June2009.pdf

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Memristor Business Landscape

Nanotechnology is likely to have a big impact to the non-volatile memory market in the next few years as the further scalabilty of  flash memory becomes more difficult. One interesting solution developed by Hewlett Packard last year is the memristor, a nanoscale circuit element theoretically proposed in 1971 but only recently realized. The memristor does not require transistors to save data and instead uses a voltage controlled alteration of the electrical resistance states of thin film materials to switch between a high and low resistance. It turns out that several other companies such as Samsung, Micron Technologies, Axon Technologies, and Unity Semiconductor all seem to be developing variations of memristor memory to achieve a “transistor-less” memory cell architecture within the next decade.  A review of the business landscape of memristor electronics is available at this link.

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Highlights of Nanotech Conference & Expo 2009

The annual Nanotech conference (NSTI 2009) was held this past week in Houston, Texas. Some of the highlights include:

Bayer discussed their FDA approval of their multiwall carbon nanotubes called Baytubes(R) which they have reported to be producible at a 60 metric ton annual capacity.  (link)

Angstron Materials and Vorbeck Materials presented their competing approaches to producing graphene sheets as an alternative to carbon nanotubes. 

RusNano, established in 2007 to build nanotechnology infrastructure in Russia, discussed a variety of their investment projects in photovoltaics and nanocoatings with plans to invest 20 billion Euro by 2015. The second annual Russian Nanotech conference is scheduled for October.  

The University of Minnesota’s Tech Transfer department made a particularly strong showing with eight different presentations covering a variety of topics including photonic sensors, biomass energy, liquid/gas separation, neural nanoprobes, and microfluidic insulin delivery.

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TechConnect 2009

As the economy continues to spiral downward one remaining hope is that the fundamental nanoscience research of the past few decades can be translated into cheaper, cleaner and more efficient technologies capable of restoring economic growth. At the upcoming 2009 TechConnect Summit  the opportunity exists to make the connections and alliances necessary for this to take effect.  The summit is co-located with the Nanotech and Cleantech Conference and Expo in Houston, Tx on May 3-7.

The session list for the TechConnect Summit includes corporate needs presentations from leading Fortune 500 companies such as: Honda Motor Corporation, BASF, Kodak Company, Samsung Ventures, Medtronic, Merck Research, Dow Chemicals, Omron, Sanyo, and many others.

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NanoRAM based on Memcapacitors and Meminductors

Last year researchers at Hewlett-Packard published a paper in Nature noting a link between materials used for a new type of non-volatile memory called RRAM and the theory of the memristor- a theoretical circuit element originally predicted in 1971 by UC Berkeley professor Leon Chua. The HP researchers demonstrated an increase in the memristance characteristics at nanometer scales producing lower power dissipation and higher speed switching as the thickness of the memristance material is reduced.  

However, one defect in the memristor is that it still includes some resistive heat dissipation. In order to overcome this problem Prof. Massimiliano Di Ventra and Prof Leon Chua have developed an extended theory of memcapacitors and meminductors which are similar to memristors but do not have the problem of heat dissipation. Their paper entitled “Circuit elements with memory: memristors, memcapacitors and meminductors” notes some examples of memcapacitive effects in various materials based on nanoparticle-based thin films and, in addition to the potential for non-volatile memory, suggests the applicability to neuromorphic computer architectures which may lead to a variety of new applications in the future.

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Intellectual Ventures Nanotechnology Patents

In a recent article from Nature Nanotechnology Intellectual Ventures is profiled as a company building a large patent portfolio in nanotechnology. Due to the large number of universities producing nanotech. patents this may be a good idea by providing a “one stop shopping” for both universities and companies in nanotechnology IP transactions. However, it could also lead to overspeculation if not managed correctly. Intellectual Ventures also patents in a variety of areas under the name “Searete”. As of this posting (Feb. 1, 2009) 254 patents and pregrants patent publications are assigned to Searete which includethe prefix “nano” somewhere in the patent specification.

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