Non-volatile ternary memristor based on a polymer containing carbazole donor with CuO NPs embedded

With the rapid development of information technology, binary memory may not meet the requirements of future information and communication technology, hence multilevel memory is widely studied. Herein, a donor-acceptor-type polymer poly[2,7-9-(heptadecan-9-yl)-9H-carbazole-alt-7H-benzimidazo[2,1-a]benz[de]isoquinolin-7-one] (PCz-BMBI) was synthesized by the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction and characterized. The organic resistive random access memory (ORRAM) devices with non-volatile ternary memory behavior, based on PCz-BMBI and PCz-BMBI:CuO NPs active layers were fabricated by spin-coating technology. The I-V characteristics of the devices were studied, and the effect of the embedding ratio of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) on the memory performance of the devices was discussed. The results indicate that the switching ratios of all devices with CuO NPs embedded were improved, and their first threshold voltages were lowered. Furthermore, the devices fabricated at an embedding ratio of 7 wt% CuO NPs exhibited optimal memory performance with a current ratio of ON2/ON1/OFF of 105.3:102.3:1, low threshold voltages of -0.50 V/-1.60 V, a retention time of 104 s, and excellent stability over 103 cycles. In addition, the storage mechanism of the devices is discussed.