Carbon nitride supported silver nanoparticles: a potential system for non-volatile memory application with high ON–OFF ratio

Abstract

The graphitic carbon nitride (gCN) supported silver nanoparticles has been synthesized using a single-step borohydride reduction technique. The silver–carbon nitride (Ag–gCN) composite displayed electronic memory effect based on conductance switching. The current–voltage characteristic of the device is fitted with the Poole–Frenkel emission for the OFF-state, whereas, the ON-state fitted with the Schottky emission. To determine the endurance of ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ states of the system, the device was subjected to 1.0 V read pulse for 0.2 s time period with a duty-cycle of 50% for 103 cycles. The device exhibited excellent endurance stability with ON to OFF ratio of 108. To demonstrate the nonvolatile behaviour of the device, the system was subjected to 1.0 V read pulse for 0.1 s, after every 60 s, with the duty-cycle of 0.16% for more than 103 s. The system demonstrated that the power drops does not have any impact on the either ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’ state.