pinMOS Memory

A novel, non-volatile, organic capacitive memory device called p-i-n-metal-oxide-semiconductor (pinMOS) memory is demonstrated with multiple-bit storage that can be programmed and read out electrically and optically. The diode-based architecture simplifies the fabrication process, and makes further optimizations easy, and might even inspire new derived capacitive memory devices. Furthermore, this innovative pinMOS memory device features local charge up of an integrated capacitance rather than of an extra floating gate. Before the device can perform as desired, the leakage current due to the lateral charge up of the doped layers outside the active area needs to be suppressed. Therefore, in this thesis, lateral charging effects in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are studied first. By comparing the results from differently structured devices, the presence of centimeter-scale lateral current flows in the n-doped and p-doped layers is shown, which results in undesirable capacitance increases and thus extra leakage currents. Such lateral charging can be controlled via structuring the doped layers, leading to extremely low steady-state leakage currents in the OLED (here 10-7 mA/cm2 at -1 V). It is shown that these lateral currents can be utilized to extract the conductivity as well as the activation energy of each doped layer when modeled with an RC circuit model. Secondly, pinMOS memory devices that are based on the diode with structured doped layers are investigated. The memory behavior, which is demonstrated as capacitance switching for electrical signals, and light emission for optical signals, can be tuned either by the applied voltage or ultraviolet light illumination, respectively. The working mechanism is explained by the existence of quasi steady-states as well as the width variation of space charge zones. The pinMOS memory shows excellent repeatability, an endurance of more than 104 write-read-erase-read cycles, and currently already over 24 h retention time. Furthermore, an early-stage investigation on emulating synaptic plasticity reveals the potential of pinMOS memory for applications in neuromorphic computing. Overall, the results indicate that pinMOS memory in principle is promising for a variety of future applications in both electronic and photonic circuits. A detailed understanding of this new concept of memory device, for which this thesis lays an important foundation, is necessary to proceed with further enhancements.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Technische Universität Dresden

Year

2020

Author dc:creator

• Zheng, Yichu

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lakner, Hubert
• Mannsfeld, Stefan
• Vandewal, Koen

• organic electronics
• organic memoy device
• organic light-emitting diode
• metal‐oxide‐semiconductor
• diode-capacitor memory