Newly Found Digital Memory Characteristics of Pyrrolidone- and Succinimide-Based Polymers

This study reports for the first time the excellent nonvolatile and volatile digital memory characteristics of polymers bearing 2-pyrrolidone and succinimide moieties. A series of new polymers is synthesized from poly(ethylene-alt-maleic anhydride) and four alcohol derivatives with and without 2-pyrrolidone and succinimide moieties. All polymers, including polyvinylpyrrolidone, are found to be thermally stable up to 195 °C or higher, and characterized regarding their molecular orbital energy levels, bandgap, and resistive digital memory behaviors. Excitingly, the polymers bearing either 2-pyrrolidone or succinimide moiety demonstrate p-type digital memory behaviors with high ON/OFF current ratios and long reliabilities. Nonvolatile digital memory performance is achieved over the film thickness range of 10-80 nm, whereas volatile digital memory is demonstrated over a much narrower range of film thickness. All digital memory performances can be originated from the 2-pyrrolidone and succinimide moieties possessing high affinity and stabilization power to charges via charge traps and transformations based on a hopping conduction process. Hence, these new polymers are suitable for the production of high-performance p-type nonvolatile and volatile digital memory devices. Moreover, 2-pyrrolidone and succinimide can be used as new and economical electroactive building blocks for the development of advanced digital memory materials.

Ambipolar polyimides with pendant groups based on 9H-thioxanthene-9-one derivatives: synthesis, thermostability, electrochemical and electrochromic properties

New thermally stable polyimides with pendant groups based on 9H-thioxanthene-9-one and its S,S-dioxide display electrochemical and electrochromic activities caused by radical anion states of pendant groups and in-chain imide moieties.

Synthesis and non-volatile electrical memory characteristics of triphenylamine-based polyimides with flexibility segments

Two triphenylamine-based polyimides (PI(TPA-PMDA) and PI(TPA-BPDA)) containing a flexibility segments were prepared. The memory device of ITO/PI(TPA-PMDA)/Al exhibited write-once read-many-times (WORM) memory behavior, however, the memory device of PI(TPA-BPDA) demonstrated flash-type memory characteristics.

Asymmetric isomerization: an efficient strategy to tune the electrical resistive memory behaviors of functional polyimides containing N-phenylcarbazole moieties

Three isomeric polyimides with exactly the same chemical components and altered spatial configuration possess vastly different memory behaviors.

Organic Electronic Memory Devices

With the rapid development of the electronics industry in recent years, information technology devices, such as personal computers, mobile phones, digital cameras and media players, have become an essential part of our daily life. From both the technological and economic points of view, the development of novel information storage materials and devices has become an emergent issue facing the electronics industry. Due to the advantages of good scalability, flexibility, low cost, ease of processing, 3D-stacking capability and high capacity for data storage, organic-based electrical memory devices have been promising alternatives or supplementary devices to conventional inorganic semiconductor-based memory technology. The basic concepts and historical development of electronic memory devices are first presented. The following section introduces the structures and switching mechanisms of organic electronic memory devices classified as transistors, capacitors and resistors. Subsequently, the progress in the field of organic-based memory materials and devices is systematically summarized and discussed. Finally, the challenges posed to the development of novel organic electronic memory devices are summarized.

Adjusting the Proportion of Electron-Withdrawing Groups in a Graft Functional Polymer for Multilevel Memory Performance

A polymer containing aldehyde active groups (PVB) was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), acting as a polymer precursor to graft a functional moiety via nucleophilic addition reaction. DHI (2-(1,5-dimethyl-hexyl)-6-hydrazino-benzo[de]isoquinoline-1,3-dione) and NPH (nitrophenyl hydrazine) groups, which contain naphthalimides that act as narrow traps and nitro groups that act as deep traps, were anchored onto the PVB at different ratios. A series of graft polymers were obtained and named PVB-DHI, PVB-DHI4 -NPH, PVB-DHI-NPH4 , and PVB-NPH. The chemical composition of the polymers was analyzed by (1) H-NMR spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Memory devices were prepared from the polymers, and I-V characteristics were measured to determine the performance. By adjusting the ratio of different electron acceptors (DHI and NPH) to 4:1, ternary memory behavior was achieved. The relationship between memory behavior of PVB-DHIx NPHy and acceptor groups as well as their conduction mechanism were studied in detail.

A study of photothermal laser ablation of various polymers on microsecond time scales

To analyze the photothermal ablation of polymers, we designed a temperature measurement setup based on spectral pyrometry. The setup allows to acquire 2D temperature distributions with 1 μm size and 1 μs time resolution and therefore the determination of the center temperature of a laser heating process. Finite element simulations were used to verify and understand the heat conversion and heat flow in the process. With this setup, the photothermal ablation of polystyrene, poly(α-methylstyrene), a polyimide and a triazene polymer was investigated. The thermal stability, the glass transition temperature T_g and the viscosity above T_g were governing the ablation process. Thermal decomposition for the applied laser pulse of about 10 μs started at temperatures similar to the start of decomposition in thermogravimetry. Furthermore, for polystyrene and poly(α-methylstyrene), both with a T_g in the range between room and decomposition temperature, ablation already occurred at temperatures well below the decomposition temperature, only at 30–40 K above T_g. The mechanism was photomechanical, i.e. a stress due to the thermal expansion of the polymer was responsible for ablation. Low molecular weight polymers showed differences in photomechanical ablation, corresponding to their lower T_g and lower viscosity above the glass transition. However, the difference in ablated volume was only significant at higher temperatures in the temperature regime for thermal decomposition at quasi-equilibrium time scales.

Digital memory versatility of fully π-conjugated donor-acceptor hybrid polymers

The fully π-conjugated donor-acceptor hybrid polymers Fl-TPA, Fl-TPA-TCNE, and Fl-TPA-TCNQ, which are composed of fluorene (Fl), triphenylamine (TPA), dimethylphenylamine, alkyne, alkyne-tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) adduct, and alkyne-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) adduct, were synthesized. These polymers are completely amorphous in the solid film state and thermally stable up to 291-409 °C. Their molecular orbital levels and band gaps vary with their compositions. The TCNE and TCNQ units, despite their electron-acceptor characteristics, were found to enhance the π-conjugation lengths of Fl-TPA-TCNE and Fl-TPA-TCNQ (i.e., to produce red shifts in their absorption spectra and significant reductions in their band gaps). These changes are reflected in the electrical digital memory behavior of the polymers. Moreover, the TCNE and TCNQ units were found to diversify the digital memory modes and to widen the active polymer layer thickness window. In devices with aluminum top and bottom electrodes, the Fl-TPA polymer exhibits stable unipolar permanent memory behavior with high reliability. The Fl-TPA-TCNE and Fl-TPA-TCNQ devices exhibit stable unipolar permanent memory behavior as well as dynamic random access memory behavior with excellent reliability. These polymer devices were found to operate by either hole injection or hole injection along with electron injection, depending on the polymer composition. Overall, this study demonstrated that the incorporation of π-conjugated cyano moieties, which control both the π-conjugation length and electron-accepting power, is a sound approach for the design and synthesis of high-performance digital memory polymers. The TCNE and TCNQ polymers synthesized in this study are highly suitable active materials for the low-cost mass production of high-performance, polarity-free, programmable, volatile, and permanent memory devices that can be operated with very low power consumption, high ON/OFF current ratios, and high reliability.

Polymer-based resistive memory materials and devices

Due to the advantages of good scalability, flexibility, low cost, ease of processing, 3D-stacking capability, and large capacity for data storage, polymer-based resistive memories have been a promising alternative or supplementary devices to conventional inorganic semiconductor-based memory technology, and attracted significant scientific interest as a new and promising research field. In this review, we first introduced the general characteristics of the device structures and fabrication, memory effects, switching mechanisms, and effects of electrodes on memory properties associated with polymer-based resistive memory devices. Subsequently, the research progress concerning the use of single polymers or polymer composites as active materials for resistive memory devices has been summarized and discussed. In particular, we consider a rational approach to their design and discuss how to realize the excellent memory devices and understand the memory mechanisms. Finally, the current challenges and several possible future research directions in this field have also been discussed.

Well-defined DNA-mimic brush polymers bearing adenine moieties: synthesis, layer-by-layer self-assembly, and biocompatibility

Two new DNA-mimicking brush polymers were synthesized: poly[oxy(11-(3-(9-adeninyl)propionato)-undecanyl-1-thiomethyl)ethylene] (PECH-AP) and poly[oxy(11-(5-(9-adenylethyloxy)-4-oxopentanoato)undecanyl-1-thiomethyl)ethylene] (PECH-AS). These polymers were found to be thermally stable up to 220 °C and could be applied easily by conventional coating processes to produce good quality films. Interestingly, both brush polymers formed molecular multibilayer structures to provide an adenine-rich surface. Despite the structural similarities, PECH-AS surprisingly exhibited higher hydrophilicity and better water sorption properties than PECH-AP. These differences were attributed to the chemical structures in the bristles of the polymers. The adenine-rich surfaces of the polymer films demonstrated selective protein adsorption, suppressed bacterial adherence, facilitated HEp-2 cell adhesion, and exhibited good biocompatibility in mice. However, the high hydrophilicity and good water sorption characteristics of the PECH-AS film suggest that this brush polymer is better suited to applications requiring good biocompatibility and reduced chance of bacterial infection compared with the PECH-AP film.

Non-volatile memory devices based on polystyrene derivatives with electron-donating oligofluorene pendent moieties

We report bistable non-volatile memory devices based on polystyrene derivatives containing pendent electron-donating mono-, di-, and tri(9,9-dihexylfluorene), which are denoted as poly(St-Fl), poly(St-Fl(2)), and poly(St-Fl(3)), respectively. The effects of the oligofluorene chain lengths and polymer surface structures on the memory characteristics were explored. Poly(St-Fl)-, poly(St-Fl(2))-, and poly(St-Fl(3))-based devices exhibited a flash memory characteristic with different turn-on threshold voltages of 2.8, 2.0, and 1.8 V, respectively, which was on the reverse trend with the highest occupied molecular orbital levels of -5.86, -5.80, and -5.77 eV. Moreover, the memory device showed a high ON/OFF current ratio of 2.5 x 10(4) and a long retention time of 10(4) s. The possible mechanism of the switching behavior was explained by the space-charge-limited-current theory and filamentary conduction. The larger aggregation domain size of the polymer thin film processed from the mixed solvent of chlorobenzene/N,N-dimethylformamide probably promoted the diffusion of the Al atoms into the polymer film and formed the conduction channel. Thus, it significantly reduced the turn-on threshold voltage on the studied polymer memory devices. The present study suggested that the polymer memory characteristics could be efficiently tuned through the pendent conjugated chain length and surface structures.