High‐Performance Ferroelectric Memory Based on Phase‐Separated Films of Polymer Blends

Abstract

High‐performance polymer memory is fabricated using blends of ferroelectric poly(vinylidene‐fluoride‐trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF‐TrFE)) and highly insulating poly(p‐phenylene oxide) (PPO). The blend films spontaneously phase separate into amorphous PPO nanospheres embedded in a semicrystalline P(VDF‐TrFE) matrix. Using low molecular weight PPO with high miscibility in a common solvent, i.e., methyl ethyl ketone, blend films are spin cast with extremely low roughness (Rrms ≈ 4.92 nm) and achieve nanoscale phase seperation (PPO domain size < 200 nm). These blend devices display highly improved ferroelectric and dielectric performance with low dielectric losses (<0.2 up to 1 MHz), enhanced thermal stability (up to ≈353 K), excellent fatigue endurance (80% retention after 106 cycles at 1 KHz) and high dielectric breakdown fields (≈360 MV/m).