A nonvolatile organic memory device using ITO surfaces modified by Ag-nanodots

We report on a single-layer organic memory device made of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) embedded between an Al electrode and ITO modified with Ag nanodots (Ag-NDs). Devices exhibit high ON/OFF switching ratios of 10(4). This level of performance could be achieved by modifying the ITO electrodes with some Ag-NDs that act as trapping sites, reducing the current in the OFF state. Temperature dependence of the electrical characteristics suggest that the current of the low-resistance state can be attributed to Schottky charge tunnelling through low-resistance pathways of Al particles in the polymer layer and that the high-resistance state can be controlled by charge trapping by the Al particles and Ag-NDs.