Abstract
Developing new memory concepts and devices has been one of the most productive fields of research for the past decade. There is a need for a nonvolatile memory technology based on resistance switching. An ideal memory element is a bistable rectifying diode that enables realization of a simple crossbar memory array with highest areal bit density. Ferroelectrics have been suggested to code digital information due to their intrinsic and stable binary electronic polarization. However, realization of a ferroelectric bistable rectifying diode is challenging since ferroelectricity and electrical conductivity are mutually exclusive and cannot coexist in a single compound. As a solution, lateral ferroelectric-semiconductor heterostructures have been suggested for the realization of ferroelectric diodes. Bistable rectifying diodes and their respective nonvolatile crossbar memory arrays based on ferroelectric-semiconductor lateral heterostructures have been successfully demonstrated with organic ferroelectrics and organic semiconductors. The present review focuses on the resistance switching in ferroelectric-semiconductor heterostructure rectifying diodes based on polymers and discusses the latest developments over the last decade.
Highlights
The best-suited memory concept is electric-field mediated resistance switching in an electronic device such as transistors, diodes, or resistors
Bistable rectifying diodes and their respective nonvolatile crossbar memory arrays based on ferroelectric-semiconductor lateral heterostructures have been successfully demonstrated with organic ferroelectrics and organic semiconductors
The bistability of this diode was based on the fact that the band bending at the metal–ferroelectric interface and the resulting charge injection was dependent on the orientation of the ferroelectric polarization
Summary
The research on lateral heterostructure have exclusively employed the random copolymer P(VDF-TrFE) as the ferroelectric component, because P(VDF-TrFE) readily crystalizes in its ferroelectric phase upon solution casting. It has been demonstrated that the ferroelectric d-phase crystalline form of PVDF can be realized in ultra-thin-films.[127,128]. Despite the availability of various ferroelectric polymers,[10] the research focus has been mainly on the PVDF-based fluoropolymers. An interesting replacement to PVDF and its copolymers is polyamides, or odd-nylons, where the repeat unit of the polymer chain in nylons is composed of amide units that are separated by an even number of CH2 units (giving an odd number of carbon atom per repeat unit). Microelectronic devices based on ferroelectric odd-nylons have rarely been demonstrated, mainly because of difficulty in achieving their ferroelectric d0-phase upon thin-film fabrication.[132]. Scitation.org/journal/are combined with the new revived interest in the synthesis of ferroelectric odd-nylons,[135] it would be interesting to explore the possibilities of resistance switching using lateral heterostructures of semiconductor: odd-nylons
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