Switching behaviour of individual Ag-TCNQ nanowires: anin situtransmission electron microscopy study

Abstract

The organic semiconductor silver-tetracyanoquinodimethane (Ag-TCNQ) exhibits electrical switching and memory characteristics. Employing a scanning tunnelling microscopy setup inside a transmission electron microscope, the switching behaviour of individual Ag-TCNQ nanowires (NWs) is investigated in detail. For a large number of NWs, the switching between a high (OFF) and a low (ON) resistance state was successfully stimulated by negative bias sweeps. Fitting the experimental I-V curves with a Schottky emission function makes the switching features prominent and thus enables a direct evaluation of the switching process. A memory cycle including writing, reading and erasing features is demonstrated at an individual NW. Moreover, electronic failure mechanisms due to Joule heating are discussed. These findings have a significant impact on our understanding of the switching behaviour of Ag-TCNQ.

Creating Electrical Bistability Using Nano-bits — Application in 2-Terminal Memory Devices

“…For instance, organic materials exhibit few extraordinary properties which attract the attention of researchers and draw them a hopeful prospect for solar cells [1], thin film transistor [2], light emitting diodes [3], sensors [4] and memory devices [5][6][7][8]. We can easily demonstrate that there are a number of advantages low temperature deposited materials, for examples: materials permit to build-up devices with the high mechanical flexibility and over large areas, another one is that materials can be processable from solution form which give the opportunity to use inexpensive methods (spin coating, dip-coating, printing) at low temperature.…”