Organic Multilevel Memory Devices of Long-Term Environmental Stability via Incorporation of Fluorine

Organic resistive memory devices have been considered as potential candidates for next-generation, non-volatile memories. As prerequisites for real applications such memory devices would need to attain a high storage density, low power consumption, and, especially, long-term stability. Although extensive research has been carried out these issues have thus far not been resolved in a satisfactory manner. In this work, two phenothiazine-cored, cyano-substituted diphenylethene derivatives with trifluoromethyl and nitrogroups (PTZ-CF3 and PTZ-NO2) are presented and the performance of electroresistive memory devices based on these two molecules is investigated. Both molecules can realize ternary memory data storage with ternary device yields as high as 70%. In addition, PTZ-CF3-based devices exhibit a long-term stability (up to three months), lower operating voltage (-1.01/-2.42 V), and higher ON/OFF ratios (>10(4) and 10(3)) compared to those based on PTZ-NO2. Such superior performance can be attributed to the introduced trifluoromethyl group, which leads to a better solubility, film-forming ability, and hydrophobicity. These results may serve as a guide to improve the performance and promote the development of organic memories.