Theoretical and experimental investigation into environment dependence and electric properties for volatile memory based on methyl-red dye thin film

Abstract

The environment dependence and electric properties of Ni/ methyl-red/ Ni organic device were both theoretically and experimentally investigated at room temperature. This volatile memory consists of methyl-red layer (∼200 nm) with a planar geometry. The results demonstrated that ( a) applying low-voltage pulses increases conductivity from 10 −6 S cm −1 ( OFF) to 10 −5 S cm −1 ( ON); ( b) measurements of current–voltage show a peak-to-valley ratio of 8:1 [10:1] under positive [negative] bias; ( c) the electric feature of this dye memory is due the Schottky barrier in the metal/ methyl-red interface with negative differential resistance effect. These semiconductor characteristics indicate that this azo aromatic compound is promising for applications in volatile memory arrays.