An all-organic composite system for resistive change memory via the self-assembly of plastic-crystalline molecules

An Na Cha, Sang A. Lee, Sukang Bae, Sang Hyun Lee, Dong Su Lee, Gunuk Wang, Tae Wook Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    10 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    An all-organic composite system was introduced as an active component for organic resistive memory applications. The active layer was prepared by mixing a highly polar plastic-crystalline organic molecule (succinonitrile, SN) into an insulating polymer (poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA). As increasing concentrations of SN from 0 to 3.0 wt % were added to solutions of different concentrations of PMMA, we observed distinguishable microscopic surface structures on blended films of SN and PMMA at certain concentrations after the spin-casting process. The structures were organic dormant volcanos composed of micron-scale PMMA craters and disk type SN lava. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) analysis showed that these structures were located in the middle of the film. Self-assembly of the plastic-crystalline molecules resulted in the phase separation of the SN:PMMA mixture during solvent evaporation. The organic craters remained at the surface after the spincasting process, indicative of the formation of an all-organic composite film. Because one organic crater contains one SN disk, our system has a coplanar monolayer disk composite system, indicative of the simplest composite type of organic memory system. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the composite films with organic craters revealed that our all-organic composite system showed unipolar type resistive switching behavior. From logarithmic I-V characteristics, we found that the current flow was governed by space charge limited current (SCLC). From these results, we believe that a plastic-crystalline molecule-polymer composite system is one of the most reliable ways to develop organic composite systems as potential candidates for the active components of organic resistive memory applications.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2730-2738
    Number of pages9
    JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
    Volume9
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017 Jan 25

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2016 American Chemical Society.

    Keywords

    • Organic composites
    • Organic craters
    • Organic disk
    • Resistive change memory
    • Space charge limited current
    • Succinonitrile

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Materials Science

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