The chemically driven phase transformation in a memristive abacus capable of calculating decimal fractions

The accurate calculation of decimal fractions is still a challenge for the binary-coded computations that rely on von Neumann paradigm. Here, we report a kind of memristive abacus based on synaptic Ag-Ge-Se device, in which the memristive long-term potentiation and depression are caused by a chemically driven phase transformation. The growth and the rupture of conductive Ag₂Se dendrites are confirmed via in situ transmission electron microscopy. By detecting the change in memristive synaptic weight, the quantity of input signals applied onto the device can be "counted". This makes it possible to achieve the functions of abacus that is basically a counting frame. We demonstrate through experimental studies that this kind of memristive abacus can calculate decimal fractions in the light of the abacus algorithms. This approach opens up a new route to do decimal arithmetic in memristive devices without encoding binary-coded decimal.