Organic Electronic Memory Devices

Abstract

With the rapid development of the electronics industry in recent years, information technology devices, such as personal computers, mobile phones, digital cameras and media players, have become an essential part of our daily life. From both the technological and economic points of view, the development of novel information storage materials and devices has become an emergent issue facing the electronics industry. Due to the advantages of good scalability, flexibility, low cost, ease of processing, 3D-stacking capability and high capacity for data storage, organic-based electrical memory devices have been promising alternatives or supplementary devices to conventional inorganic semiconductor-based memory technology. The basic concepts and historical development of electronic memory devices are first presented. The following section introduces the structures and switching mechanisms of organic electronic memory devices classified as transistors, capacitors and resistors. Subsequently, the progress in the field of organic-based memory materials and devices is systematically summarized and discussed. Finally, the challenges posed to the development of novel organic electronic memory devices are summarized.