Resistive Molecular Memories: Influence of Molecular Parameters on the Electrical Bistability

The electrical bistability behavior of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) along with two additional benzoquinone derivatives (TCQ and TCN) and pentacene (PNT) is investigated by computing intra- and intermolecular charge transfer parameters and by comparing the efficiency of bulk charge transport and charge injection at the electrode/organic interface in the presence of neutral and charged molecular species. The bulk charge transport is modeled assuming a charge hopping regime and by computing hopping rates and mobilities. Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to estimate the effect of thermal disorder on charge transfer integrals. The efficiency of the interface transport is estimated by comparing the electron affinities of benzoquinone derivatives and the ionization potential of pentacene with the work function of commonly employed electrodes. It is shown that the observed memory effect can be rationalized in terms of an interplay of the two transport mechanisms by showing that the OFF state is dominated by interface limited phenomena and the ON state may be determined also by bulk transport limited phenomena. While the contribution of collective effects cannot be ruled out for the macroscopic memory phenomenon, we show that, at a molecular level, sizable intramolecular reorganization energies are fundamental for the efficiency of the device, provided their magnitude does not hamper the charge transport across the device. It is suggested that control over molecular parameters might be exploited to design more efficient resistive molecular memories.