Design and Application of Passive Very High-Frequency Memristor Emulator

Memristor emulators are of great importance in the investigation of nonlinearity and memory characteristics of memristors. Currently, most of the existing memristor emulators are active structures. In contrast, there has been a paucity of research conducted on emulators based on passive structures. This paper presents a novel approach based on unidirectional diode conductivity and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transmission gates. The proposed method illustrates the potential for efficient operation in floating mode, offering a promising solution to the current limitations of passive memristor emulators. The new emulator circuit is symmetrical in that the input signal cross-activates the inverter to charge and discharge the capacitor and drive the transmission gate with the capacitor voltage. The circuit exhibits no DC bias and attains zero static power consumption in the absence of input excitation. Experimental implementation of a new memristor emulator circuit using SMIC 130 nm CMOS process. The obtained results show that significant hysteresis curves can be maintained at input frequencies up to 300 MHz. The results of the theoretical analysis and simulation are corroborated by the layout design and post-simulation in Cadence, as well as by the physical circuit verification using commercial components on a breadboard. Logic gates and sequential logic circuits designed based on a new memristor emulator verify the practicality.