Memristor - The fictional circuit element

Abstract

The memory resistor abbreviated memristor was a harmless postulate in 1971. In the decade since 2008, a device claiming to be the missing memristor is on the prowl, seeking recognition as a fundamental circuit element, sometimes wanting electronics textbooks to be rewritten, always promising remarkable digital, analog and neuromorphic computing possibilities. A systematic discussion about the fundamental nature of the device is almost universally absent. This report investigates the assertion that the memristor is a fundamental passive circuit element, from the perspective that electrical engineering is the science of charge management. With a periodic table of fundamental elements, we demonstrate that there can only be three fundamental passive circuit elements. The ideal memristor is shown to be an unphysical active device. A vacancy transport model further reveals that a physically realizable memristor is a nonlinear composition of two resistors with active hysteresis.