Programmable polymer thin film and non-volatile memory device

Nat Mater. 2004 Dec;3(12):918-22. doi: 10.1038/nmat1269. Epub 2004 Nov 28.

Abstract

Building on the success of organic electronic devices, such as light-emitting diodes and field-effect transistors, procedures for fabricating non-volatile organic memory devices are now being explored. Here, we demonstrate a novel organic memory device fabricated by solution processing. Programmable electrical bistability was observed in a device made from a polystyrene film containing gold nanoparticles and 8-hydroxyquinoline sandwiched between two metal electrodes. The as-prepared device, which is in a low-conductivity state, displays an abrupt transition to a high-conductivity state under an external bias of 2.8 V. These two states differ in conductivity by about four orders of magnitude. Applying a negative bias of 1.8 V causes the device to return to the low-conductivity state. The electronic transition is attributed to the electric-field-induced charge transfer between the gold nanoparticles and 8-hydroxyquinoline. The transition from the low- to the high-conductivity state takes place in nanoseconds, and is non-volatile, indicating that the device may be used for low-cost, high-density memory storage.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electric Conductivity
  • Electrochemistry / instrumentation*
  • Electrochemistry / methods
  • Electrodes*
  • Electronics*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Information Storage and Retrieval*
  • Materials Testing
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Oxyquinoline / chemistry*
  • Polymers / chemistry
  • Polystyrenes / chemistry*

Substances

  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Polymers
  • Polystyrenes
  • Oxyquinoline