Organic ferroelectric memory devices based on resistive switching

• Main Author: Damar Yoga Kusuma
• Other Authors: Lee Pooi See
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Organic/Polymer electronics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52948
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The non-volatile functionality in ferroelectric memories arises from the inherently stable and well-defined physical phenomenon of ferroelectric polarization. Consequently it is anticipated to be of excellent qualities. Nevertheless, several unaddressed issues have undermined its full potential. The issues are not of intrinsic properties of the ferroelectrics and often due to inefficient utilizations of the material and or poor device designs considerations. This thesis is aimed to evaluate and to address the current issues and possible future challenges faced by organic ferroelectric memories. The early part of the thesis deals with the current issues of switching time limitation, data consistency, and retention stability aspects in organic ferroelectric field-effect transistor devices. To address the inferior switching speed of organic ferroelectric, gold nanoparticles were introduced to induce heterogeneous domain nucleation. This approach accelerates the switching kinetics as polarization reversal shifts from the nucleation-limited regime to the growth-limited regime. On the other hand, mutual combination of SAM’s fixed dipole and ferroelectric’s polarizable dipole is employed to realize ferroelectric field effect transistor devices with tailored operational parameters, reduced charge trapping and improved retention stability. The final part of the thesis demonstrates novel organic resistive switching memory concept based on ferroelectric tunnel junction. The memory device exhibits improved retention stability, excellent cycling endurance and fast switching kinetics while operating at low switching voltage of ±1.0 V. The novel memory concept, which is readily integrated with the current silicon-based platform as well as the emerging area of printed and flexible electronics, offers great potential for the next generation memory technology.