Current conduction mechanism for non-volatile memory fabricated with conductive polymer embedded au nanocrystals

Abstract

Molecular memory is an expected next-generation, nonvolatile memory because it demonstrates the characteristic of a bi-stable switch and has a 45-nm initial feature, an up to 10-ns access and store time, and low-cost, flexible, and simple fabrication. Several types of molecular devices have been reported, such as simple and low molecular organic devices and polymer devices. However, fabricating this device is complex because the Ni1-xFx crystals are embedded in the polyimide layer as a floating gate in the flash memory after defining the source and drain regions. We report the memory effects, based on the electrical bistability of the materials, in organic molecules. A bistable phenomenon was observed in a poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) layer, which contained a high density of Au nanocrystals and was sandwiched between Al electrodes without source and drain regions. The memory phenomenon in this device was based on the electrical bistability of the material, which has two resistance states. Nonvolatile memory devices that use discrete nanocrystals as charge storage sites and exhibit bistability have also been reported. We discuss the current conduction mechanism for nonvolatile memory devices.