Dependence of nonvolatile memory characteristics on curing temperature for polymer memory-cell embedded with Au nanocrystals in poly(N-vinylcarbazole)

We investigated the dependence of nonvolatile memory characteristics on curing temperature for a polymer nonvolatile 4F(2) memory-cell embedded with Au nanocrystals in poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK). The curing temperature is an important factor for determining the size, shape, and isolation presence of Au nanocrystals embedded in the PVK layer. When the curing temperature rises above 300 degrees C, similar to 8-nm spherical Au nanocrystals are uniformly distributed and well isolated. Thus, the nonvolatile memory-cell demonstrated a memory margin of (I-on/I-off) of 9.8 x 10(1), retention time of 1 x 10(5) s and more than 100 program/erase endurance cycles. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.