Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Organic non-volatile memories from ferroelectric phase-separated blends

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 547–550 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

New non-volatile memories are being investigated to keep up with the organic-electronics road map1. Ferroelectric polarization is an attractive physical property as the mechanism for non-volatile switching, because the two polarizations can be used as two binary levels2. However, in ferroelectric capacitors the read-out of the polarization charge is destructive3. The functionality of the targeted memory should be based on resistive switching. In inorganic ferroelectrics conductivity and ferroelectricity cannot be tuned independently. The challenge is to develop a storage medium in which the favourable properties of ferroelectrics such as bistability and non-volatility can be combined with the beneficial properties provided by semiconductors such as conductivity and rectification. Here we present an integrated solution by blending semiconducting and ferroelectric polymers into phase-separated networks. The polarization field of the ferroelectric modulates the injection barrier at the semiconductor–metal contact. The combination of ferroelectric bistability with (semi)conductivity and rectification allows for solution-processed non-volatile memory arrays with a simple cross-bar architecture that can be read out non-destructively. The concept of an electrically tunable injection barrier as presented here is general and can be applied to other electronic devices such as light-emitting diodes with an integrated on/off switch.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Schematic presentation of the operating mechanism of a polymeric ferroelectric interpenetrating network.
Figure 2: Electrical transport of a pristine, unpoled, polymeric semiconductor–ferroelectric interpenetrating network.
Figure 3: Resistance switching by ferroelectric polarization.
Figure 4: Programming properties of ferroelectric memories consisting of a P(VDF–TrFE):P3HT (10:1) network sandwiched between two Ag electrodes.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Scott, J. C. & Bozano, L. D. Nonvolatile memory elements based on organic materials. Adv. Mater. 19, 1451–1463 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Scott, J. F. & Paz de Araujo, C. A. Ferroelectric memories. Science 246, 1400–1405 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Scott, J. F. Ferroelectric Memories (Springer, Heidelberg, 2000).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Dawber, M., Rabe, K. M. & Scott, J. F. Physics of thin-film ferroelectric oxides. Rev. Mod. Phys 77, 1083–1130 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Blom, P. W. M., Wolf, R. M., Cillessen, J. F. M. & Krijn, M. P. C. M. Ferroelectric Schottky diode. Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 2107–2110 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Halls, J. J. M. et al. Efficient photodiodes from interpenetrating polymer networks. Nature 376, 498–500 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Yu, G., Gao, J., Hummelen, J. C., Wudl, F. & Heeger, A. J. Polymer photovoltaic cells: Enhanced efficiencies via a network of internal donor–acceptor heterojunctions. Science 270, 1789–1791 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Pei, Q., Yu, G., Zhang, C., Yang, Y. & Heeger, A. J. Polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells. Science 269, 1086–1088 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Meijer, E. J. et al. Solution-processed ambipolar organic field-effect transistors and inverters. Nature Mater. 2, 678–682 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Chua, L. L. et al. General observation of n-type field-effect behaviour in organic semiconductors. Nature 434, 194–199 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kodama, H., Takahashi, Y. & Furukawa, T. Effects of annealing on the structure and switching characteristics of VDF/TrFE copolymers. Ferroelectrics 203, 433–455 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Van Duren, J. K. J. et al. Injection-limited current in a methanofullerene. J. Appl. Phys. 94, 4477–4479 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lovinger, A. J. Ferroelectric polymers. Science 220, 1115–1121 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Takahashi, T., Date, M. & Fukada, E. Dielectric hysteresis and rotation of dipoles in polyvinylidene fluoride. Appl. Phys. Lett. 37, 791–793 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Scott, J. C. Is there an immortal memory? Science 304, 62–63 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Asadi, K., Blom, P. W. M. & de Boer, B. Patent Appl. Nr. EP 07108645.8-2203 (2007).

  17. Naber, R. C. G. et al. High performance solution-processed polymer ferroelectric field effect transistors. Nature Mater. 4, 243–248 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contributions of R. C. G. Naber and D. M. Jarzab to this work, J. Harkema for technical assistance, R. Coehoorn and E. Meulenkamp for stimulating discussions and both the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials and the EC project PolyApply IST-IP-507143 for financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, NL-9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Kamal Asadi, Dago M. de Leeuw, Bert de Boer & Paul W. M. Blom

  2. Philips Research Laboratories, High Tech Campus 4, NL-5656 AE, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Dago M. de Leeuw

Authors
  1. Kamal Asadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dago M. de Leeuw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bert de Boer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Paul W. M. Blom
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul W. M. Blom.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Asadi, K., de Leeuw, D., de Boer, B. et al. Organic non-volatile memories from ferroelectric phase-separated blends. Nature Mater 7, 547–550 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2207

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2207

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing