Initiator-changed memory type: preparation of end-functionalized polymers by ATRP and study of their nonvolatile memory effects

A new hydrazine naphthalimide initiator (NI) was designed and synthesized. Two end functional group polymers NPVCz-1 and NPVCz-2 were prepared by ATRP. We successfully controlled the location of the naphthalimide functional group at one end of the polymer chain. NPVCz-1 and NPVCz-2 were fabricated as films by simple spin-coating and all of them were then prepared as sandwich memory devices ITO/NPVCz-1/Al and ITO/NPVCz-2/Al respectively. According to the measurements, all devices exhibited stable binary flash-type memory effects. In addition, ITO/NPVCz-1/Al and ITO/NPVCz-2/Al exhibited different turn-on threshold voltages of about −2.5 and −1.5 V respectively. It illustrated that NPVCz-2 possessing a larger molecular weight shows lower turn-on threshold voltage due to the lower hole injection barrier, which was related to low-power consumption.