On the Usage of Harmonic Balance to Simulate Memristive Devices and Circuits

Abstract

This paper proposes the usage harmonic balance method to find the steady state solution on memristive devices and circuits. Harmonic balance is a well-established simulation tool often used to find the periodic steady state solution of circuits involving non-linear elements. It is a particularly efficient method when the focus is on the characterization of the frequency-domain behavior of some quantity in the circuit. This important characteristic arises due to the nature of the mathematical procedures involved, which operate directly on the frequency domain. One such example, is the problem of simulating the frequency behavior of the hysteresis loop area of a memristive device. In this paper, we describe the preliminary analysis involved in harmonic balance simulation and how it applies to the characterization of a memristive device. Simulation results at the end of the paper disclose important considerations on the accuracy of the method and its efficiency when compared to standard time domain methods.