Focused ion beam and field-emission microscopy of metallic filaments in memory devices based on thin films of an ambipolar organic compound consisting of oxadiazole, carbazole and fluorene units

Pearson, C.; Bowen, L.; Lee, M.-W.; Fisher, A.L.; Linton, K.E.; Bryce, M.R.; Petty, M.C.

doi:10.1063/1.4808026

Focused ion beam and field-emission microscopy of metallic filaments in memory devices based on thin films of an ambipolar organic compound consisting of oxadiazole, carbazole and fluorene units

Pearson, C.; Bowen, L.; Lee, M.-W.; Fisher, A.L.; Linton, K.E.; Bryce, M.R.; Petty, M.C.

Authors

C. Pearson

Leon Bowen leon.bowen@durham.ac.uk
Senior Manager (Electron Microscopy)

M.-W. Lee

A.L. Fisher

K.E. Linton

M.R. Bryce

M.C. Petty

Abstract

We report on the mechanism of operation of organic thin film resistive memory architectures based on an ambipolar compound consisting of oxadiazole, carbazole, and fluorene units. Cross-sections of the devices have been imaged by electron microscopy both before and after applying a voltage. The micrographs reveal the growth of filaments, with diameters of 50 nm–100 nm, on the metal cathode. We suggest that these are formed by the drift of aluminium ions from the anode and are responsible for the observed switching and negative differential resistance phenomena in the memory devices.

Citation

Pearson, C., Bowen, L., Lee, M., Fisher, A., Linton, K., Bryce, M., & Petty, M. (2013). Focused ion beam and field-emission microscopy of metallic filaments in memory devices based on thin films of an ambipolar organic compound consisting of oxadiazole, carbazole and fluorene units. Applied Physics Letters, 102(21), https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4808026

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	May 27, 2013
Deposit Date	Jul 25, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Jul 29, 2014
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Print ISSN	0003-6951
Electronic ISSN	1077-3118
Publisher	American Institute of Physics
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	102
Issue	21
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4808026

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Copyright Statement
© 2013 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Pearson, C., Bowen, L., Lee, M.-W., Fisher, A.L., Linton, K.E., Bryce, M.R. and Petty, M.C. (2013) 'Focused ion beam and field-emission microscopy of metallic filaments in memory devices based on thin films of an ambipolar organic compound consisting of oxadiazole, carbazole and fluorene units.', Applied physics letters., 102 (21). p. 213301 and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4808026.