Downscaling and Charge Transport in Nanostructured Ferroelectric Memory Diodes Fabricated by Solution Micromolding

Thomas Lenz, Matteo Ghittorelli, Frank Simon Benneckendorf, Kamal Asadi, Christian Kasparek, Gunnar Glasser, Paul W.M. Blom, Fabrizio Torricelli, Dago M. de Leeuw

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Ferroelectric polymer memory diodes are interface devices where charge injection into the organic semiconductor is controlled by the stray electric field of the ferroelectric polymer. Key to high current density and current modulation is the areal density of well-defined interfaces. Here, bistable diodes are fabricated by using the soft lithography method solution micromolding. First, the semiconducting polymer poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) is patterned into linear gratings. Subsequently, bilinear arrays are obtained by backfilling with the ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene). The lateral feature size is scaled down from 2 μm to 500 nm. Comprising memory diodes show rectifying J–V characteristics with an On-current density larger than 103 A m−2 and an On/Off current ratio exceeding 103. The charge transport is explained by 2D numerical simulations. Since the dependence of polarization on electric field is explicitly taken into account, entire J–V characteristics can be quantitatively described. The simulations reveal that rectifying J–V characteristics are inherently related to the concave shape of the patterned ferroelectric polymer. It is argued that the exponential increase in current density with decreasing feature size can be due to confinement of the semiconductor. High On-current density combined with downscaling, rectification, and simple fabrication yield new opportunities for low-cost integration of high-density solution-processed memories.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5111-5119
Number of pages9
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume26
Issue number28
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Jul 2016

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge technical support from C. Bauer, F. Keller, and H. Raich from the Max Plank Institute for Polymer Research, Germany. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. K.A. acknowledges the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the funding provided in the framework of the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, endowed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany. T.L. acknowledges financial support by the Graduate School Materials Science in Mainz.

Keywords

  • bistable diodes
  • charge transport
  • memory
  • numerical simulations
  • P(VDF-TrFE)
  • scaling
  • solution micromolding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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