Theoretical new electrical elements
Engineers have long worked with a trio of 'ideal elements' for classic electronic circuit design – resistor, inductor and capacitor – each having fixed properties. Yet, modern nanoelectronics also includes components with variable properties, which need documenting. The EU-funded DISCOVERTABLE (Re-discovering a periodic table of elementary circuit elements) project intended to devise tables of non-ideal components. Project members claim such tables would be equivalent to the periodic table of chemical elements. Such a reference tool would enable categorisation of existing circuit elements and prediction of the properties of new components. The team proposed a principle of supersymmetry in circuit theory whereby each circuit element supposedly partners symmetrically with another. Members found their theory to be mathematically 'beautiful' and potentially useful. Work yielded prediction of a new electronic element: the negative memristor. The group investigated the hypothetical component's probable features and potential applications. The work of DISCOVERTABLE may lead to new applications in electronics and computing.
Keywords
Elements, electronic engineering, periodic table, circuit theory, negative memristor, DISCOVERTABLE
