High Performance Transparent Transistor Memory Devices Using Nano-Floating Gate of Polymer/ZnO Nanocomposites

• Published in: Scientific reports 2016-02, Vol.6 (1), p.20129-20129, Article 20129
• Main Authors: Shih, Chien-Chung, Lee, Wen-Ya, Chiu, Yu-Cheng, Hsu, Han-Wen, Chang, Hsuan-Chun, Liu, Cheng-Liang, Chen, Wen-Chang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/301/1005/1008; 639/925/357/354; Carbazole; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Random access memory; Science; Surface plasmon resonance; Transistors; Trapping
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep20129

Nano-floating gate memory devices (NFGM) using metal nanoparticles (NPs) covered with an insulating polymer have been considered as a promising electronic device for the next-generation nonvolatile organic memory applications NPs. However, the transparency of the device with metal NPs is restricted to 60~70% due to the light absorption in the visible region caused by the surface plasmon resonance effects of metal NPs. To address this issue, we demonstrate a novel NFGM using the blends of hole-trapping poly (9-(4-vinylphenyl) carbazole) (PVPK) and electron-trapping ZnO NPs as the charge storage element. The memory devices exhibited a remarkably programmable memory window up to 60 V during the program/erase operations, which was attributed to the trapping/detrapping of charge carriers in ZnO NPs/PVPK composite. Furthermore, the devices showed the long-term retention time (>10 5 s) and WRER test (>200 cycles), indicating excellent electrical reliability and stability. Additionally, the fabricated transistor memory devices exhibited a relatively high transparency of 90% at the wavelength of 500 nm based on the spray-coated PEDOT:PSS as electrode, suggesting high potential for transparent organic electronic memory devices.