Biodegradable and flexible ι-carrageenan based RRAM with ultralow power consumption

Abstract

Transient memories, which can physically disappear without leaving traceable remains over a period of normal operation, are attracting increasing attention for potential applications in the fields of data security and green electronics. Resistive random access memory (RRAM) is a promising candidate for next-generation memory. In this context, biocompatible ι-carrageenan (ι-car), extracted from natural seaweed, is introduced for the fabrication of RRAM devices (Ag/ι-car/Pt). Taking advantage of the complexation processes between the functional groups (C–O–C, C–O–H, et al.) and Ag metal ions, a lower migration barrier of Ag ions and a high-speed switching (22.2 ns for SET operation/26 ns for RESET operation) were achieved, resulting in an ultralow power consumption of 56 fJ. And the prepared Ag/ι-car/Pt RRAM devices also revealed the capacities of multilevel storage and flexibility. In addition, thanks to the hydrophilic groups of ι-car molecule, the RRAM devices can be rapidly dissolved in deionized (DI) water within 13 minutes, showing excellent transient characteristics. This work demonstrates that ι-car based RRAM devices have great potential for applications in secure storage applications, flexible electronics and transient electronics.