Abstract
Ferroelectric polymer-based memory devices have attracted much attention due to their potential in low-cost flexible memories. However, bad retention property of recorded logic states limited their applications. Though mechanisms of retention degradation in ferroelectric memories are complicated and still an open question, depolarization in ferroelectric polymer layer was regarded as the main influencing factor. Here we reported our piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) study of retention property of polarization states on various ferroelectric polymer based structures. PFM results indicated that, as for ferroelectric/semiconductor structure and ferroelectric/insulator/semiconductor structure with thin insulating layer, both positive and negative polarization states could retain for a relatively long time. Mechanisms of good retention of polarization states were discussed. The discrepancy in bad retention of logic states and good polarization retention of ferroelectric layer was also analyzed.
Highlights
Organic electronics has attracted more attention due to its potential for large-area electronic applications such as flexible displays and smart labels, in which organic nonvolatile memories are still the main bottleneck which limits the applications of all-organic flexible electronic systems.[1]
We did not try to give a whole and clear picture on the degradation of retention property in ferroelectric memory devices, but we reported our piezoresponse force microscope (PFM) study of ferroelectric polymer thin films with various structural configurations aiming to discuss two questions: 1) whether both polarization states exist during and after poling process, and 2) how long the polarization states can retain after the removal of poling voltage
To study the polarization retention of ferroelectric polymer thin films, we chose three kinds of substrates to construct various ferroelectric structures: 1) Metal substrate: Al bottom electrode was vacuum thermally evaporated onto highly doped p-type Si wafer; 2) p-Si substrate: device level p-type Si(100) with resistivity of 8-12 Ω cm was used, and before deposition of ferroelectric film, the native oxide was removed by HF solution; and 3) Al2O3/p-Si substrate: 5.0 nm thick Al2O3 layer was deposited by atomic layer deposition onto the same p-type Si substrate as mentioned above
Summary
Organic electronics has attracted more attention due to its potential for large-area electronic applications such as flexible displays and smart labels, in which organic nonvolatile memories are still the main bottleneck which limits the applications of all-organic flexible electronic systems.[1] Among all reported organic nonvolatile memories, organic ferroelectric memories have been comprehensively studied and regarded as a promising technology for low-cost flexible memories Ferroelectric polymers, such as poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)), and organic semiconductors, such as pentacene and P3HT, are integrated to form ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) for nonvolatile memory function.[2] Even recently ferroelectric memristors were realized in phase-separated ferroelectric/semiconductor blends.[3] bad retention performance in such ferroelectric-based memories narrows their application in flexible electronics. We did not try to give a whole and clear picture on the degradation of retention property in ferroelectric memory devices, but we reported our piezoresponse force microscope (PFM) study of ferroelectric polymer thin films with various structural configurations aiming to discuss two questions: 1) whether both polarization states exist during and after poling process, and 2) how long the polarization states can retain after the removal of poling voltage
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