Study of ferroelectric and reproducible bistable switching properties in CdMnS thin films for nonvolatile memory applications

CdMnS thin films grown on indium tin oxide substrate exhibit a ferroelectric property. The remnant polarization of CdMnS films was around 0.025 mu C/cm(2) for 10% of manganese with a sustained polarization endurance for several cycles. Persisting and highly reproducible bistable switching of about five orders in magnitude between low and high impedance states was observed in current voltage measurements. Nondestructive readout measurement with a short pulse width of 20 mu s resulted in a resistance difference of two orders between two read levels with a good retention time. Possible use of CdMnS for nonvolatile memory applications is explored. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.