A new memristor based on NiTi smart alloys

With the recent discovery of the memristor, and following the initial realization based on titanium dioxide (TiO2), a plethora of potential device implementations have emerged. In this paper we present a novel memristive device based on a nickel titanium (NiTi) smart alloy. The proposed memristors are very practical in that it is possible to add a smart metal layer on an existing semiconductor process with very few extra masks. By patterning different widths and lengths of these memristors, the designer can affect the properties of the memristor. Unlike memristors designed for memory storage applications, these devices can return to their original state over shorter time scales, thus lending themselves to dynamic neural processes, which are key components required for future biomimetic computer architectures.