Abstract
Recently, organic nonvolatile memory devices have attracted considerable attention due to their low cost and high performance. This article reviews recent developments in organic nonvolatile memory and describes in detail an organic electrical bistable device (OBD) that has potential for applications. The OBD consists of a tri-layer of organics/metal nanoclusters/organics sandwiched between top and bottom electrodes. A sufficiently high applied bias causes the metal nanoparticle layer to become polarized, resulting in charge storage near the two metal/organic interfaces. This stored charge lowers the resistance of the device and leads to an electrical switching behavior. The ON and OFF states of an OBD differ in their conductivity by several orders of magnitude and show remarkable bistability—once either state is reached, the device tends to remain in that state for a prolonged period of time. More important, the conductivity states of an OBD can be precisely controlled by the application of a positive voltage pulse (to write) or a negative voltage pulse (to erase). Device performance tests show that the OBD is a promising candidate for high-density, low-cost electrically addressable data storage applications.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Campbell Scott, Science 304 (2004) p. 62.
L.P. Ma W.J. Yang S.S. Xie and S.J. Pang Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 (1998) p. 3303
M.I. Lutwyche, M. Despont, U. Drechsler, U. Dürig, W. Haberle, H. Rothuizen, R. Stutz, R. Widmer, G.K. Binnig, and P. Vettiger, Appl. Phys. Lett. 77 (2000) p. 3299.
Li-Jie, E. Schreck and K. Dransfeld Appl. Phys. A 53 (1991) p. 457.
R.S. Potember and T.O. Poehler Appl. Phys. Lett. 34 (1979) p. 407.
H. Carchano R. Lacoste and Y. Segui Appl. Phys. Lett. 19 (1971) p. 414.
H.K. Henish and W.R. Smith Appl. Phys. Lett. 24 (1974) p. 589.
Y. Segui Bui Ai, and H. Carchano J. Appl. Phys. 47 (1976) p. 140.
H. Carchano R. Lacoste and Y. Segui Appl. Phys. Lett. 19 (1979) p. 414.
T. Oyamada H. Tanaka K. Matsushige H. Sasabe and C. Adachi Appl. Phys. Lett. 83 (2003) p. 1252.
A. Bandyopadhyay and A.J. Pal Appl. Phys. Lett. 82 (2003) p. 1215.
S. Moller C. Perlov W. Jackson C. Taussig and S.R. Forrest Nature 426 (2003) p. 166.
S. Moller S.R. Forrest C. Perlov W. Jackson and C. Taussig J. Appl. Phys. 94 (2003) p. 7811.
L.P. Ma Q.F. Xu and Y. Yang Appl. Phys. Lett. 84 (2004) p. 4908.
Y. Yang L.P. Ma and J. Liu U.S. Patent Pending, US 01/17206 (2001).
L.P. Ma J. Liu S.M. Pyo and Y. Yang Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 (2002) p. 362.
L.P. Ma J. Liu and Y. Yang Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 (2002) p. 2997.
L.P. Ma J. Liu S.M. Pyo Q.F. Xu and Y. Yang Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 378 (2002) p. 185.
L.P. Ma S.M. Pyo Q.F. Xu and Y. Yang Appl. Phys. Lett. 82 (2003) p. 1419.
J. Hubbard Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 276 (1963) p. 238
J.H. Wu, L.P. Ma, and Y. Yang, Phys. Rev. B 69 (2004) p. 11531.
L.D. Bozano B.W. Kean V.R. Deline J.R. Salem and J.C. Scott Appl. Phys. Lett. 26 (2004) p. 607.
G. Jabbour private communication.
C.P. Collier G. Mattersteig E.W. Wong Y. Luo K. Beverly J. Sampaio F.M. Raymo J.F. Stoddart and J.R. Heath Science 289 (2000) p. 1172.
A.R. Pease J.O. Jeppesen J.F. Stoddart Y. Luo C.P. Collier and J.R. Heath Acc. Chem. Res. 34 (2001) p. 433.
Y. Chen D.A.A. Ohlberg X. Li D.R. Stewart R.S. Williams J.O. Jeppesen K.A. Nielsen J.F. Stoddart D.L. Olynick and E. Anderson Appl. Phys. Lett. 82 (2003) p. 1610.
M.A. Reed J. Chen A.M. Rawlett D.W. Price and J.M. Tour Appl. Phys. Lett. 78 (2001) p. 3735.
J.M. Seminario A.G. Zacarias and J.M. Tour J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122 (2000) p. 3015.
J.M. Seminario A.G. Zacarias and P.A. Derosa J. Phys. Chem. A 105 (2001) p. 791.
J. Cornil Y. Karzazi and J.L. Bredas J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124 (2002) p. 3516.
J. Taylor M. Brandbyge and K. Stokbro Phys. Rev. B 68121101 (2003).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, Y., Ma, L. & Wu, J. Organic Thin-Film Memory. MRS Bulletin 29, 833–837 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2004.237
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2004.237