Active research has been done on hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite materials for application to solar cells with high power conversion efficiency. However, this material often shows hysteresis, which is undesirable, shift in the current-voltage curve. The hysteresis may come from formation of defects and their movement in perovskite materials. Here, we utilize the defects in perovskite materials to be used in memory operations. We demonstrate flexible nonvolatile memory devices based on hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite as the resistive switching layer on a plastic substrate. A uniform perovskite layer is formed on a transparent electrode-coated plastic substrate by solvent engineering. Flexible nonvolatile memory based on the perovskite layer shows reproducible and reliable memory characteristics in terms of program/erase operations, data retention, and endurance properties. The memory devices also show good mechanical flexibility. It is suggested that resistive switching is done by migration of vacancy defects and formation of conducting filaments under the electric field in the perovskite layer. It is believed that organic-inorganic perovskite materials have great potential to be used in high-performance, flexible memory devices.

Neuromorphic computing is a promising alternative to conventional computing systems as it could enable parallel computation and adaptive learning process. However, the development of energy efficient neuromorphic hardware systems has been hindered by the limited performance of analog synaptic devices. Here, we demonstrate the analog conductance modulation behavior in the ferroelectric thin-film transistors (FeTFT) that have the nanoscale ferroelectric material and oxide semiconductors. Accurate control of polarization changes in the nanoscale ferroelectric layer induces conductance modulation to demonstrate linear potentiation and depression characteristics of FeTFTs. Our devices show potentiation and depression properties, including high linearity, multiple states, and small cycle-to-cycle/device-to-device variations. In simulations with measured properties, a neuromorphic system with FeTFT achieves 91.1% recognition accuracy of handwritten digits. This work may provide a way to realize the neuromorphic hardware systems that use FeTFTs as the synaptic devices.

The flexible nonvolatile organic memory devices were developed on the plastic substrates based on the organic thin-film transistors embedding self-assembled gold nanoparticles (Au(NP)). The organic memory devices exhibited good programmable memory characteristics with respect to the program/erase operations, resulting in controllable and reliable threshold voltage shifts. Additionally, the endurance, data retention, and bending cyclic measurements confirmed that the flexible memory devices exhibited good electrical reliability as well as mechanical stability. The memory devices were composed of the solution-processed organic dielectric layers/metallic nanoparticles and the low-temperature processed organic transistors. Therefore, this approach could potentially be applied to advanced flexible/plastic electronic devices as well as integrated organic device circuits.

Emulation of biological synapses that perform memory and learning functions is an essential step toward realization of bioinspired neuromorphic systems. Artificial synaptic devices have been developed based mostly on inorganic materials and conventional semiconductor device fabrication processes. Here, we propose flexible biomemristor devices based on lignin by a simple solution process. Lignin is one of the most abundant organic polymers on Earth and is biocompatible, biodegradable, as well as environmentally benign. This memristor emulates several essential synaptic behaviors, including analog memory switching, short-term plasticity, long-term plasticity, spike-rate-dependent plasticity, and short-term to long-term transition. A flexible lignin-based artificial synapse device can be operated without noticeable degradation under mechanical bending test. These results suggest lignin can be a promising key component for artificial synapses and flexible electronic devices.

A flexible and transparent resistive switching memory based on a natural organic polymer for future flexible electronics is reported. The device has a coplanar structure of Mg/Ag‐doped chitosan/Mg on plastic substrate, which shows promising nonvolatile memory characteristics for flexible memory applications. It can be easily fabricated using solution processes on flexible substrates at room temperature and indicates reliable memory operations. The elucidated origin of the bipolar resistive switching behavior is attributed to trap‐related space‐charge‐limited conduction in high resistance state and filamentary conduction in low resistance state. The fabricated devices exhibit memory characteristics such as low power operation and long data retention. The proposed biocompatible memory device with transient electrodes is based on naturally abundant materials and is a promising candidate for low‐cost memory applications. Devices with natural substrates such as chitosan and rice paper are also fabricated for fully biodegradable resistive switching memory. This work provides an important step toward developing a flexible resistive switching memory with natural polymer films for application in flexible and biodegradable nanoelectronic devices.

We describe a versatile approach for preparing flash memory devices composed of polyelectrolyte/gold nanoparticle multilayer films. Anionic gold nanoparticles were used as the charge storage elements, and poly(allylamine)/poly(styrenesulfonate) multilayers deposited onto hafnium oxide (HfO2)-coated silicon substrates formed the insulating layers. The top contact was formed by depositing HfO2 and platinum. In this study, we investigated the effect of increasing the number of polyelectrolyte and gold nanoparticle layers on memory performance, including the size of the memory window (the critical voltage difference between the 'programmed' and 'erased' states of the devices) and programming speed. We observed a maximum memory window of about 1.8 V, with a stored electron density of 4.2 x 1012 cm-2 in the gold nanoparticle layers, when the devices consist of three polyelectrolyte/gold nanoparticle layers. The reported approach offers new opportunities to prepare nanostructured polyelectrolyte/gold nanoparticle-based memory devices with tailored performance.

The development of electronic devices possessing the functionality of biological synapses is a crucial step toward replicating the capabilities of the human brain. Of the various materials that have been used to realize artificial synapses, renewable natural materials have the advantages of being abundant, inexpensive, biodegradable, and ecologically benign. In this study, we report a biocompatible artificial synapse based on a matrix of the biopolymer ι-carrageenan (ι-car), which exploits Ag dynamics. This artificial synapse emulates the short-term plasticity (STP), paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), and transition from STP to long-term potentiation (LTP) of a biological synapse. The above-mentioned characteristics are realized by exploiting the similarities between the Ag dynamics in the ι-car matrix and the Ca dynamics in a biological synapse. By demonstrating a method that uses biomaterials and Ag dynamics to emulate synaptic functions, this study confirms that ι-car has the potential for constructing neuromorphic systems that use biocompatible artificial synapses.

A solution-processed, chitosan-based resistive-switching memory device is demonstrated with Pt/Ag-doped chitosan/Ag structure. The memory device shows reproducible and reliable bipolar resistive switching characteristics. A memory device based on natural organic material is a promising device toward the next generation of nonvolatile nanoelectronics. The memory device based on chitosan as a natural solid polymer electrolyte can be switched reproducibly between high and low resistance states. In addition, the data retention measurement confirmed the reliability of the chitosan-based nonvolatile memory device. The transparent Ag-embedded chitosan film showed an acceptable and comparable resistive switching behavior on the flexible plastic substrate as well. A cost-effective, environmentally benign memory device using chitosan satisfies the functional requirements of nonvolatile memory operations.