Down with the transistor

New component could radically transform computer chips

After going unchallenged for decades, the transistor’s supremacy could come to an end. Researchers have demonstrated a new type of electronic component that could replace transistors as the building blocks of computer chips, and lead to faster, more powerful and less energy-thirsty computers.

Memristors are electronic components that, with a change in electrical resistance, can store data. This atomic force microscope image shows 17 memristors (appearing in yellow) sandwiched between parallel platinum wires (each about 50 nanometers wide) and a single crosswire.
NEW PARADIGM Memristors are electronic components that, with a change in electrical resistance, can store data.