Project Proposal N.

Dhileeban, 13mnt009

Designing electrical memory

devices using polymer nano
composites

PG Project
(Proposal)

Submitted by,
N. Dhileeban
(13mnt009)

Guided by,
Dr. N. Selvakumar M.E Ph.D
Professor,
Centre for Nano Science & Technology,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Mepco Schlenk engineering College,
Sivakasi.

HOD Signature

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Project Proposal N. Dhileeban, 13mnt009

Contents

1.0 Introduction 3

2.0 Literature survey 3

3.0 Problem Identification 6

4.0 Methodology 7

4.1 Characterization 8

5.0 Project Schedule 8

References 9

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Project Proposal N. Dhileeban, 13mnt009

1.0 Introduction
Non Volatile Memory devices based on organic nano composites are the promising
devices which have their applications in various fields and so they are the future devices which
are on development. Thanks to the Moores law, the memory devices are now becoming smaller.
Particularly, the Organic Bistable Devices (OBD) that is fabricated using hybrid organic nano
composites deserves their own importance in electronic/optoelectronic devices. The advantages
of these devices include the ease of fabrication, low cost, higher stability and high reliability
along with improved performance. Nano composites are defined as the solid materials of either
one, two or three dimensions which has multiphase components in nano scale. Generally, the
hybrid organic nano composites are composed of sheets of metals, organic polymers along with
metal clusters. A wide range of metal nano particles like Silver, Iron and Nickel could be used
for nano clusters. Also, semi- conducting materials like Zinc Oxide, Copper Oxide and Cadmium
Selenide can be used in the place of those metals. Other than these metals and semi conductors,
Graphene sheets could also be used. This proposal comprises the comparison of performances of
various metals, semi conductors and Graphene , embedded in an Organic/Inorganic matrix.

2.0 Literature survey

Tae Whan Kim, Yang Yang, Fushan Li and Wei Lek Kwan, (2012) promoted the
electrical memory devices using the nanocomposites. Their work specified a number of metals,
semi conductors and grapheme. The performance was analyzed based on the electrical
characteristics and Switching and carrier transport mechanisms. Apart from these, they also
studied about the flexible memory devices, fabricated using hybrid nano composites. The
advantages of the method followed by them are that the memory devices fabricated using
graphene were flexible, adding the metals, the devices were having high carrier mobility, the
mode of switching used was resistive switching and all these properties could be used to
fabricate non volatile memory devices.

Won Tae Kim, Jae Hun Jung, Tae Whan Kim, and Dong Ick Son, (2010) studied the
current bistability and carrier transport mechanisms of organic bistable devices. The nano
composite used here was based on a metal and a polymer. The metal used was Silver while the
polymer was PMMA (Poly Methyl Metha Acrylate). The silver nano particles were embedded on

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Project Proposal N. Dhileeban, 13mnt009

the polymer, PMMA. The highlighting feature found by using this nano composite was that the
ON/OFF ratio was obtained at 103 and a phenomenon of current bistability was observed. The
ON/OFF switching had a cycling endurance number, above 7x104. The results were obtained by
studying the IV characteristics, by a HRTEM image (which was used to infer that the Silver nano
particles were randomly distributed in the PMMA layer), by a stress test which was used to
determine the degradation of the device.

J. H. Kim, J. Y. Jin, J. H. Jung, I. Lee, T. W. Kim, Sung K. Lim, C. S. Yoon and Y.-H.
Kim (2005) worked on Nickel and Iron nano crystals by embedding them on a Polyimide layer.
The performances were analyzed using the C V graph which showed a broad conductance peak
around the flat band voltage. And they inferred that when the Nickel and Iron nano crystals,
being embedded on the Poly Imide layer have the qualities to be used as a non volatile flash
memory devices which had an improved performance which was verified using a G V graph.

Fushan Li, Tae Whan Kim, Wenguo Dong, and Young-Ho Kim (2008) have discussed
the sandwich of Zinc Oxide nano particles with Poly Imide between two sheets of fullerene. The
Zinc Oxide nano particles were in the form of crystals which had several advantages to be used
for high-density, low power consuming nano scale floating gates based nonvolatile flash memory
devices. In order to analyze the performance of the devices, the parameters like Current
Voltage measurements, current bistability based on the ON/Off ratio were determined. A large
ON/OFF ratio of about 104 was obtained. They observed no change in the device under the
degradation factor. Also, the electrical bistability of the device was up to expectation in the
ambient conditions.

S. Kolliopoulou, P. Dimitrakis, P. Normand, Hao-Li Zhang, Nicola Cant, Stephen D.

Evans, S. Paul, C. Pearson,A. Molloy, M. C. Petty, and D. Tsoukalas (2003) have worked on
memory devices based on hybrid Silicon and polymer nano composites. The memory devices
that were fabricated by these materials were under the classification of EPROM (Erasable
Programmable Read Only Memory). The metal nano particles used were Gold nano particles.
Embedding the Gold nano particles into an organic polymer layer creates the memory device.
The charge storage elements used here were the Gold nano particles. The self assembly

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technique was used to disperse the Gold nano particles in the Organic polymer. The
characteristics of the device were studied using the current voltage study.

Eric Yeow Hwee Teo, Chunfu Zhang, Siew Lay Lim, En-Tang Kang, Daniel S. H. Chan,
and Chunxiang Zhu (2009) have discussed about the a diode based on organic compounds. The
highlights of the device were that the device has high electrical bistability and a large
rectification ratio as well. The device could be fabricated by connecting the diode that is based
on organic materials with a polymer memory component in series. The performance obtained
was analyzed based on the parameters like ON/OFF ratio which was found to be 106 and the
rectification ratio was about 103. The memory device, fabricated by these people has an
important role in the cross bar polymer memory array. Also, these memory devices were apt to
use for the applications like WORM (Write Once Read Many times). These devices based on
WORM have enough potential to develop the path for very high density 3-D passive cross bar
polymer array of memories.

Tae-Wook Kim, Hyejung Choi, Seung-Hwan Oh, Gunuk Wang, Dong-Yu Kim,
Hyunsang Hwang and Takhee Lee (2009) have elaborately described the importance of
fabricating the transistors and polymer memory in one chip. Their device is based on the single
transistor and single resistor which has a Silicon transistor, along with a polymer resistive
memory. Since the power consumption of the Organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) is high when
compared to the polymer memory devices, the device designed, uses an inorganic transistor and
an organic resistor. For the evaluation purposes, the IV characteristics of the device were studied.
The MOSFET characteristics were observed which exhibited the p channel transistor and the
polymer memory devices were exhibiting the non volatile memory properties. The switching was
simple as a small voltage pulse to the polymer memory could trigger a switch. The written or
deleted data could be accessed for about 104 s in a one transistor one resistor memory device.

Dong Yeol Yun, Woo Seung Song, Tae Whan Kim, Sung Woo Kim, and Sang Wook
Kim (2012) have fabricated the flexible Organic Bistable devices (OBDs) using the Cadmium
Selenide and Indium Phosphide core shell nanoparticles and Poly styrene nano composites by
coating on the Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) coated Polyethene terapthalate. The evaluations were

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Project Proposal N. Dhileeban, 13mnt009

done using the Current Voltage measurements, hysteresis behavior analysis based on ON/OFF
ratios and based on the endurance number which is dependent on the ON/OFF switchings and
the carrier transport mechanisms were also determined using the current voltage study.

C. W. Lin, T. S. Pan, M. C. Chen, Y. J. Yang, Y. Tai, and Y. F. Chen (2011) have

proposed that the non volatile memory devices can be developed using PVP (Poly Vinyl
Pyrrolidone) by embedding the Gold nano particles and Zinc Oxide nano rods on it. They
synthesized the nano particles by the aqua solution process. The characterization of the nano
particles was done using TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) which provided that the
Gold nano particle and Zinc oxide nano rod composite were of aster like structures with Gold
nano particles being at the center which is encapsulated by the Zinc Oxide nano rods. The
evaluation methods include the study of the current voltage characteristics and by estimating
the ON/OFF ratio. They inferred that the nano composite had a large surface area and so large
amount of charges could be stored. As the Zinc oxide nano rods encapsulate the Gold nano
particles, the aggregation of the latter is prevented to a high extent which results in the
improvement in the performance of the non volatile memory devices.

Dong Yeol Yun, Jin Ku Kwak, Jae Hun Jung, Tae Whan Kim, and Dong Ick Son (2009)
have found that embedding the Zinc Oxide nano particles in a Poly Styrene (PS) layer could
fabricate a non volatile memory device with improved performance. The Poly Styrene was
uniformly coated on a glass substrate. The evaluation parameters were the current voltage
study with high current bistability. The ON/OFF ratio was high of about 103. This mode of
fabrication was highly feasible for the WORM (Write Once Read Many times) memory devices.
The retention time of the WORM devices were found to be about 10 years. And the storage unit
in this device the Zinc Oxide nanoparticles, embedded in the Poly Styrene layer.

3.0 Problem Identification

The electrical memory devices available in the market are of negligible mechanical
flexibility, involving tedious processes and are of very high cost. Despite these, the memory

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devices which are intended to store the memory even in the absence of power supply (Non
Volatile memory devices) have a trendy development using the hybrid polymer nano composites.
The devices were capable of overcoming almost all the drawbacks of ordinary memory devices.
They have a high mechanical stability, involve very easy fabrication process and are of very low
cost. The memory devices would be sophisticated if they are of flexible nature. Using the hybrid
polymer nano composites, flexible memory devices have a feasibility of being hand held
devices. The main problems of the conventional memory devices include the following:
Poor mechanical stability
Manufacturing is tedious
High cost
Rigid in structure ( not flexible)
High power consumption

Using the hybrid polymer nanocomposites of metals/semiconductors, the problems cited

above could be solved.

4.0 Methodology
This project is proposed to synthesize various metal nano particles like Silver nano
particles, Iron nano particles, Nickel nano particles and various semiconductor nano particles like
Copper Oxide, Cadmium Selenide, Zinc oxide. And then forming the nano composites using the
synthesized metals, semi conductors along with suitable polymers like Poly Imide, Poly Methyl
Metha Acrylate (PMMA), Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA). Then the characterization of the metal
nano particles and semiconductor nano particles is set to perform. Using Aluminium as an
electrode, sandwich of the Aluminium and the polymer metal clusters are to be designed and
the performance of the memory devices are to be studied by the processes like Current Voltage
characteristics, Conductance Voltage characteristics and estimating their electrical bistability to
find the device having a good performance.

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Project Proposal N. Dhileeban, 13mnt009

4.1 Characterization:
The synthesized nano particles of the metals and the semiconductor materials are
characterized using various approaches like SEM, AFM, FTIR, UV Spectrophotometry and
Photo Luminance Spectrophotometer.

5.0 Project Schedule

The total duration of this project has been divided into 36 weeks and proposed activities are
listed as follows.
Week 1-2: Review literatures related to the memory devices based on hybrid polymer
nano composites.
Week 3-4: Based on the literature, the limitations of existing devices is to be clearly
studied. Design of the memory devices based on the hybrid polymer nano
composites will be identified.
Week 4-6: Synthesis and characterization of metal nano particles using different
approaches.
Week 6-7: Synthesis of polymer nano composites using the metal nano particles.
Week 7-8: Fabrication of Aluminium coated electrodes using sputtering for the metal
hybrid nano composites.
Week 8-9: Designing of memory devices based on the hybrid polymer metal nano
composites.
Week 9-11: Studying the performance of the designed memory devices using various
approaches.
Week 11-12: Review and modification
Week 13-14: Preparation of Phase I report
Week 14-15: Review literatures related to the memory devices based on flexible
polymer nano composites based on Graphene.
Week 15-16: Synthesis of semi conductor nano particles using different approaches.
Week 16-17: Characterization of the synthesized semi conductor nano particles using
different approaches.

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Project Proposal N. Dhileeban, 13mnt009

Week 17-20: Synthesis of polymer nano composites using the semi conductor nano
particles.
Week 20-24: Fabrication of Aluminium coated electrodes using sputtering for the semi
conductor hybrid nano composites.
Week 24-28: Designing of memory devices based on the hybrid polymer semi
conductor nano composites.
Week 28-30: Studying the performance of the designed memory devices using various
approaches.
Week 30-32: Compilation of results from both the phases.
Week 32-33: Preparation of Phase II report.
Week 33-34: Review and modification.
Week 34-35: Publication of Paper.
Week 36: Final Presentation.

Refer to Gantt-chart

References
1. S. Kolliopoulou, P. Dimitrakis, P. Normand, Hao-Li Zhang, Nicola Cant, Stephen D.
Evans, S. Paul, C. Pearson,A. Molloy, M. C. Petty, and D. Tsoukalas (2003) , Hybrid
siliconorganic nanoparticle memory device, Journal of Applied Physics 94(8).

2. J. H. Kim, J. Y. Jin, J. H. Jung, I. Lee, T. W. Kim, Sung K. Lim, C. S. Yoon and Y.-H.
Kim (2005), Formation and electrical properties of Ni1xFex nanocrystals embeddedin a
polyimide layers for applications as nonvolatile flash memories, Applied Physics Letters
95 (032904).

3. Fushan Li, Tae Whan Kim, Wenguo Dong, and Young-Ho Kim (2008), Formation and
electrical bistability properties of ZnO nanoparticles embedded in polyimide
nanocomposites sandwiched between two C 60 layers , Applied Physics Letters 95,
(011906).

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4. Dong Yeol Yun, Jin Ku Kwak, Jae Hun Jung, Tae Whan Kim, and Dong Ick Son (2009),
Electrical bistabilities and carrier transport mechanisms of write-once-read-many times
memory devices fabricated utilizing ZnO nanoparticles embedded in a polystyrene
layer, Applied Physics Letters 95(143301).

5. Tae-Wook Kim, Hyejung Choi, Seung-Hwan Oh, Gunuk Wang, Dong-Yu Kim,
Hyunsang Hwang and Takhee Lee (2009), One TransistorOne Resistor Devices for
Polymer Non-Volatile Memory Applications, Advanced Materials 21, pp no. 2497
2500.

6. Eric Yeow Hwee Teo, Chunfu Zhang, Siew Lay Lim, En-Tang Kang, Daniel S. H. Chan,
and Chunxiang Zhu (2009), An Organic-Based DiodeMemory Device With Rectifying
Property for Crossbar Memory Array Applications, IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE
LETTERS, 30(5), pp no. 487-489.

7. Won Tae Kim, Jae Hun Jung, Tae Whan Kim, and Dong Ick Son (2010), Current
bistability and carrier transport mechanisms of organic bistable devices based on hybrid
Ag nanoparticle-polymethyl methacrylate polymer nanocomposites , Applied Physics
Letters , 96(253301).

8. C. W. Lin, T. S. Pan, M. C. Chen, Y. J. Yang, Y. Tai, and Y. F. Chen (2011), Organic

bistable memory based on Au nanoparticle/ZnO nanorods composite embedded in poly
(vinylpyrrolidone) layer, Applied Physics Letters , 99(023303).

9. Dong Yeol Yun, Woo Seung Song, Tae Whan Kim, Sung Woo Kim, and Sang Wook
Kim (2012), Electrical stabilities and carrier transport mechanisms of flexible organic
bistable devices based on CdSe-InP core-shell nanoparticle/polystyrene nanocomposites,
Applied Physics Letters 101(103305).

10. Tae Whan Kim, Yang Yang, Fushan Li and Wei Lek Kwan, (2012), Electrical memory
devices based on inorganic/organic Nanocomposites, NPG Asia Materials, 4(18).

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Gantt-chart

Activity/Week Project Schedule Gantt Chart

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Literature Review
Problem Formulation
Formulating design ideas and alternatives
Confirm final design
Design model in ProE
Analyze model
Optimize design parameters
Preparation of Report - I
Preparation of Report II
Review and Modifications
Preparation of Final Report
Final Presentation

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