Spray-Coated, Volatile and Nonvolatile, Two-Terminal, Resistive Switching Memory Devices Comprising Liquid-Exfoliated Black Phosphorus and Graphene Layers

Abstract

Resistive switching memory devices fabricated with black phosphorus inks showed volatile memory device characteristics, specifically static random access memory (SRAM) and bipolar resistive switching. A high ON-/OFF-current ratio of 6.5 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">7</sup> was obtained at a reading voltage of 0.5 V with good retention stability (over 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sup> s). Multilevel data storage performance under different compliance currents was demonstrated. Importantly, a nonvolatile memory device was also fabricated, using an ink that comprised thinner, on average, black phosphorus flakes with a narrower thickness distribution than the ink used in the above described devices. The nonvolatile memory device showed good write/erase operation, like flash memory, during 100 endurance cycles, and good retention stability with 1.9 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> of on/off ratio at 0.5 V. According to these results, we suggest that thin films of liquid-exfoliated black phosphorus deposited by spray coating are suitable for low-cost, solution-processed, two-terminal resistive memory devices, either volatile or nonvolatile ones, the memory device type being controlled by the details of the ink preparation process, and the resulting flake thickness distributions.