Synapse-Like Organic Thin Film Memristors

Exploring new type of synapse-like electronic devices with fusion of computing and memory is a promising strategy to fundamentally approach to intelligent machines. Herein, organic thin film memristors (OTFMs) are achieved, functioning as electrically programmable and erasable analog memory with continuous and nonvolatile device states. The memristive characteristics of OTFMs stem from the asymmetric electrode configuration and the cumulative charge trapping/detrapping in a polymer electret layer, which enables the state-dependent current modulation analogous to the synaptic weight change in biological synapses. OTFMs are demonstrated to successfully emulate the essential synaptic functions, including the reversible potentiation and depression, and the short-term plasticity such as the paired-pulse facilitation and the long-term plasticity such as the spike-timing dependent plasticity.