Nonvolitale Organic Memory Devices

The convergence of mobile technologies combined with stricter power requirements and increasing demands have strained the current memory technology. Newer technologies such as phase changing, ferroelectric, and magnetic random access memories are unsatisfactory in meeting the new requirements. This book proposes a new memory technology based on charge storage in C60 molecules within poly (4-vinyl phenol) (PVP). To understand the memory potential, we created both single-layer and multi-layer devices consisting of layers of polystyrene (PS) and PVP+C60 sandwiched between aluminum (Al) electrodes. The resulting I-V curves exhibited a hysteresis ratio of 1000. The memory retentions were measured over 2 hours and the response time around 10ns. These devices exhibit the characteristics needed to satisfy the new demands for memory application and have the potential of becoming the first universal memory technology. They possess the high speed, non-volatility, thermal stability, and potentially high memory densities to make them ideal for use in laptops, netbooks, iPhones, mp3 players, smart phones, portable video players, GPS systems, and other mobile devices.