World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology

International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering

Vol:5, No:12, 2011

Variable-Relation Criterion for Analysis of the

Memristor
Qingjiang Li, Hui Xu, Haijun Liu, Xiaobo Tian

expanded view of circuit theory. This paper is indicative of the

Abstract—To judge whether the memristor can be interpreted as idea that the memristive system, the memcapacitive system, and
the fourth fundamental circuit element, we propose a variable-relation the meminductive system are generalizations of the three
criterion of fundamental circuit elements. According to the criterion, fundamental circuit elements, while the memristor and the
we investigate the nature of three fundamental circuit elements and the
resistor are two special cases of the memristive system [7]-[10].
memristor. From the perspective of variables relation, the memristor
Digital Open Science Index, Electronics and Communication Engineering Vol:5, No:12, 2011 [Link]/Publication/10978

builds a direct relation between the voltage across it and the current In this paper, we review the theory of memristor and
through it, instead of a direct relation between the magnetic flux and investigate the unique i-v characteristics of memristor. Then, we
the charge. Thus, it is better to characterize the memristor and the put forward a variable-relation criterion of fundamental circuit
resistor as two special cases of the same fundamental circuit element, elements and show that three traditional fundamental circuit
which is the memristive system in Chua’s new framework. Finally, the elements built direct relations between pairs of the four
definition of memristor is refined according to the difference between
fundamental circuit variables. However, according to the
the magnetic flux and the flux linkage.
Maxwell’s equation and the difference between the magnetic
Keywords—Memristor, Fundamental, Variable-Relation Criterion, flux and the flux linkage, we show that the memristor build a
Memristive system direct relation between the voltage and the current instead of
between the magnetic flux and the charge. So, it is better to
I. INTRODUCTION characterize the memristor and the resistor as two special cases
of the same fundamental circuit element, which is the
F ROM studying circuit theory, we learn that there are only
three fundamental circuit elements: the resistor R, the
capacitor C, and the inductor L. However, in 1971 L. Chua
memristive system in Chua’s new framework.
Finally, the definition of memristor is refined, according to
reasoned from symmetry arguments that there should be a fourth the difference between the magnetic flux and the flux linkage.
fundamental circuit element, which he named memristor [1]. In
2008, R. S. Williams and his team, at HP Labs, declared their II. THEORY OF MEMRISTOR
realization of the first memristor prototype [2]. As one of the
future generation of universal memories, the memristor has
drawn a great deal of research interests [3]-[5].
The unique characteristics distinguish memristor from three
traditional fundamental circuit elements. However, whether the
memristor can be interpreted as the fourth fundamental circuit
element is still under debate. At the 2010 IEEE Symposium on
Circuits and Systems, one of the presentations entitled "The
mythology of the memristor" by B. Mouttet argued that the
interpretation of the memristor as the fourth fundamental circuit
element may seem like a reasonable argument at first glance but Fig. 1 The four fundamental circuit elements: resistor, capacitor, inductor and
it is not without flaws [6]. In 2009, M. D. Ventra, Y. V. Pershin, memristor. Three traditional fundamental circuit elements are associated with
and L. Chua formed a new framework in [7] presenting an pairs (dv, di), (dv, dq), and ( dϕ , di). This leaves the pair ( dϕ , dq) unrelated. L.
Chua reasoned that the unrelated pair indicates the fourth fundamental circuit
element
Manuscript received October 12, 2011. This work was supported in part by
the National Nature Science Fund Committee 61171017 and the NUDT As shown in Fig. 1, there are six possible mathematical
Outstanding Graduate Research Opportunity Program B110405.
relations connecting pairs of the four fundamental circuit
Qingjiang Li is with the National University of Defense Technology,
Changsha, CO 410073 China (phone: 86-731-84573010; fax: variables: electric current i, voltage v, charge q, and magnetic
86-731-84573010; e-mail: qingjiangli@ [Link]). flux ϕ [2]. Charge q and current i are related by the definitions
Hui Xu is with the National University of Defense Technology, Changsha,
CO 410073 China (e-mail: xuhui@[Link]). of two of the variables, and the relation between magnetic
Haijun Liu is with the National University of Defense Technology, flux ϕ and current i is determined from Faraday’s law of
Changsha, CO 410073 China (e-mail: lhj@[Link]).
Xiaobo Tian is with the National University of Defense Technology,
induction. Three of the four remaining relations between the
Changsha, CO 410073 China (e-mail: txb@[Link]). variables describe the traditional fundamental circuit elements,

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 5(12) 2011 1723
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Vol:5, No:12, 2011

namely, R = dv / di , C = dq / dv , and L = dϕ / di . Chua argued whether memristor accords with the criterion. In this paper, we
that the missing link between the magnetic flux ϕ and the investigate the fundamental circuit elements from the
perspective of variables relation.
charge q describes the fourth fundamental circuit element,
which he called memristor [1]. Each memristor is characterized
III. THE VARIABLE-RELATION CRITERION OF FUNDAMENTAL
by its memristance function describing the charge-dependent
CIRCUIT ELEMENTS
rate of change of flux with charge [11], namely, M = dϕ / dq .
Considering that magnetic flux is simply the time integral of
voltage, and charge is the time integral of current, we can
rewrite the above definition equation to a more convenient
form.
dϕ dϕ / dt v(t )
M ( q (t )) = = = (1)
dq dq / dt i (t )
It can be inferred from (1) that memristance is simply
Digital Open Science Index, Electronics and Communication Engineering Vol:5, No:12, 2011 [Link]/Publication/10978

charge-dependent resistance. At constant time t0 , M (q (t0 )) is

equal to resistance. However, q(t ) will vary with time, and
memristance will vary with q (t ) , which means memristor can Fig. 3 Relations between four fundamental variables: the voltage v, the current
i, the charge q and the magnetic flux ϕ . Five of the six possible relations have
memorize the history of the current. When the current is stopped, already been defined in the circuit theory. From the view of symmetry, the
the memristor retains the last resistance that it had, and when the relation between ϕ and q seem like to exist, but the idea may be incorrect
flow of current starts again, the resistance of the memristor will considering the real physics meaning of the two variables
be what it was when it was last active [11].
Unlike three traditional fundamental circuit elements It can be inferred from Chua’s paper that the missing relation
however, which are allowed in linear time-invariant system between the magnetic flux ϕ and the charge q indicates the
theory, the memristor is a nonlinear time-varying element. existence of memristor. From the logical as well as the
Meanwhile, the i-v characteristic for a sinusoidal input is a axiomatic points of view, this inference seems reasonable [1].
double-loop hysteretic figure, just as Fig. 2 shows. But, it may neglect a problem that whether the magnetic flux ϕ
2.5 and the charge q can be related directly considering the real
2 physics meaning of two of the variables.
1.5
A. The Variable-Relation Criterion of Fundamental Circuit
1
Elements
Current (mA)

0.5
From the view of variables relation, the resistor, the capacitor
0
and the inductor are interpreted as fundamental circuit elements
-0.5
for the reason that they can build a direct relation between two
-1 ω=ω0
fundamental variables respectively. Besides, the direct relation
-1.5 ω=0.5ω0
is determined with the real physics meanings of the variables.
-2 ω=5ω0
More specifically, the resistor can build a direct relation
-2.5
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 between the potential difference v across the element and the
Voltage (V)
current i through it, the capacitor can build a direct relation
Fig. 2 Theoretical i-v characteristics of a memristor with applied voltage
between the potential difference v between the plates and the
v (t ) = v0 sin( wt ) for w=0.5w0(green dash), w=w0(red dash-dot) and
charge q stored at the plates, and the inductor can build a direct
w=5w0(blue solid), where v0=1V and w0=0.6rad/s. Parameters of memristor are
relation between the magnetic flux ϕ through the loop and the
D=10nm, Roff/Ron=3000, and Ron=1Ω . It can be observed from Fig. 2 that the
hysteresis is suppressed with the increase of frequency current through its turns. Consequently, we put forward a
variable-relation criterion of fundamental circuit elements,
Until now, no combination of nonlinear resistive, capacitive, which means that a fundamental circuit element depends on
and inductive components can duplicate the circuit properties of whether it can build a direct relation between two of the
a nonlinear memristor (although including active circuit variables with real physics meaning. Therefore, as for the
elements such as amplifiers can do so) [2], which makes memristor, the key lies in whether the memristor can build a
memristor interpreted as the fourth fundamental circuit element. direct relation between the magnetic flux ϕ and the charge q
However, this is only the linear independence criterion, with the real physics meanings.
according to which, we can only characterize memristor as a
B. Can ϕ and q Be Directly Related?
new circuit element rather than the fourth fundamental circuit
element. So, the criterion of fundamental circuit elements As the magnetic flux ϕ is the integral of the magnetic
should be specified firstly. Then, the emphasis will be laid on induction intensity B, the direct relation between the magnetic

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 5(12) 2011 1724
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Vol:5, No:12, 2011

flux ϕ and the charge q depends on the direct relation between To work against the applied excitation, the memristor will
the magnetic induction intensity B and the charge q. The produce the flux linkage. The flux linkage has the same
Maxwell’s equation in the integral form is shown as below: dimension with magnetic flux, so it is easy to understand the
∂D proof of the existence and uniqueness of the memristor

∫l H ⋅ dl = ∫S j ⋅ dS + ∫S ∂t ⋅ dS (2) definition [1]. However, the flux linkage does not represent a
physical magnetic field, so the definition of memristor should be
where H is the magnetic field intensity, j is the current density,
refined as: The memristor is a passive two-terminal circuit
D represents the electric displacement vector and dl is the
element which maintains a functional relationship between the
infinitesimal element of closed curve l.
time integrals of the current through it and the voltage across it,
It can be learned from (2) that the excitation sources of the
namely,
magnetic field are only the conduction current i and the
dϕ ' dϕ '/ dt v(t )
displacement current iD ( iD = ∂D / ∂t ). The relation between M (t ) = = = . (3)
dq dq / dt i (t )
the magnetic flux ϕ and the conduction current i has defined
where ϕ ' is the flux linkage, v(t) is the voltage across the
another fundamental circuit element, the inductor, whereas the
Digital Open Science Index, Electronics and Communication Engineering Vol:5, No:12, 2011 [Link]/Publication/10978

relation between the magnetic flux ϕ and the displacement memristor, and i(t) is the current through the memristor.
According to the Maxwell’s equation, we have proved that
current iD remains undefined. Then, the key lies in whether the magnetic flux can not be directly related to the charge, so the
there is a direct relation between the displacement current iD characterization of memristor as the fourth fundamental circuit
and the charge q. Unfortunately, this directly relation does not element may be inaccurate. But as (3) shows, the memristor
exist. Thus, the magnetic flux ϕ can not be directly related with build a direct relation between the voltage across it and the
the charge q, and the definition of memristor with the relation current through it, just like the resistor. According to the
between the magnetic flux and the charge may be inaccurate. variable-relation criterion, the memristor and the resistor should
be interpreted as two special cases of the same fundamental
C. Magnetic Flux or Flux Linkage circuit element, which verifies Chua’s new framework from the
As stated above, the magnetic flux ϕ and the charge q can not perspective of variables relation. It is worth to mention here that
be directly related and the definition of memristor may be the direct relation between voltage and the current in the
inaccurate. However, the existence and uniqueness of the memristor is different from that in the resistor, as the
memristor definition is proved in Chua’s paper with the memristance depends on the integral of the input rather than the
nonlinear network theory [1]. The contradiction between the instantaneous value of the input.
two above facts lies in the difference between the magnetic flux
and the flux linkage. IV. CONCLUSION
In an inductor, the magnetic flux relates to the Faraday's law In this paper, we propose a variable-relation criterion of
of induction, which states that the EMF (short for electromotive fundamental circuit elements, and analyze whether the
force) equals the negative derivative of the magnetic flux memristor can be interpreted as the fourth fundamental circuit
through the loop. The minus sign in the equation indicates an element according to the criterion. According to the Maxwell’s
opposition effect to work against the applied excitation. The equation, we analyze the difference between the magnetic flux
opposition effect of inductor is realized by storing energy in the and the flux linkage, and refine the definition of memristor.
magnetic field. The term magnetic flux here represents the From the perspective of variables relation, the memristor build a
intensity of the physical magnetic field. If 1V voltage is applied direct relation between the voltage and the current instead of a
across an inductor for 1 second, then there is 1 V·s magnetic flux direct relation between the magnetic flux and the charge. Thus,
in the inductor, which represents a related 1 V·s energy stored in we come to the conclusion that the memristor and the resistor
the magnetic field which may later be obtained from it are two special cases of the same fundamental circuit element.
according to the Faraday's law [11]. Actually, the conclusion accords with Chua’s new framework,
The nature of memristor is also an opposition effect to the in which memristive system, memcapacitive system, and
applied excitation, which is realized by dissipating the Joule meminductive system are interpreted as generalizations of the
heating energy instead of storing energy in magnetic or electric three fundamental circuit elements respectively, and the
field. The same 1V voltage over the same time 1s across a memristor and the resistor belong to the memristive system type.
memristor will result in the same flux linkage ϕ ' , which is Chua’s new framework was formed based on the dynamic
generalized from the magnetic flux for inductors [11]. The flux systems analysis, and our analysis is from the perspective of
linkage is defined by the equation ϕ ' = ∫ vidt , so the dimension variables relation.

of the flux linkage is the same with that of the magnetic flux. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
However, the flux linkage related energy is dissipated in the
It is pleasure to thank Professor Jianqing Zhu and Professor
form of Joule heating energy, rather than stored in the magnetic Jibin Liu for helpful comments.
field — there is no physical magnetic field involved as a link to
anything [11].

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 5(12) 2011 1725
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Vol:5, No:12, 2011

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