Impact of Top Electrodes (Cu, Ag, and Al) on Resistive Switching behaviour of Cu-rich Cu2 ZnSnS4 (CZTS) Ideal Kesterite.

Cu2 ZnSnS4 (CZTS) active material-based resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices are investigated to understand the impact of three different Cu, Ag, and Al top electrodes. The dual resistance switching (RS) behaviour of spin coated CZTS on ITO/Glass is investigated up to 102 cycles. The stability of all the devices (Cu/CZTS/ITO, Ag/CZTS/ITO, and Al/CZTS/ITO) is investigated up to 103  sec in low- (LRS) and high- (HRS) resistance states at 0.2 V read voltage. The endurance up to 102 cycles with 30 msec switching width shows stable write and erase current. Weibull cumulative distribution plots suggest that Ag top electrode is relatively more stable for set and reset state with 33.61 and 25.02 shape factors, respectively. The charge carrier transportation is explained by double logarithmic plots, Schottky emission plots, and band diagrams, substantiating that at lower applied electric field intrinsic copper ions dominate in Cu/CZTS/ITO, whereas, at higher electric filed, top electrodes (Cu and Ag) dominate over intrinsic copper ions. Intrinsic Cu+ in CZTS plays a decisive role in resistive switching with Al electrode. Further, the impedance spectroscopy measurements suggest that Cu+ and Ag+ diffusion is the main source for the resistive switching with Cu and Ag electrodes.

Injection-limited and space charge-limited currents in organic semiconductor devices with nanopatterned metal electrodes.

Charge injection at metal-organic interfaces often limits the electric current in organic light-emitting diodes without additional injection layers. Integrated nanopatterned electrodes may provide a way to overcome this current injection limit by local field enhancements leading to locally space charge-limited currents. We compare electrical characteristics of planar and nanopatterned hole-only devices based on the charge transport material NPB with different thicknesses in order to investigate the nanopattern's effect on the current limitation mechanism. Integration of a periodic nanograting into the metal electrode yields a current increase of about 1.5-4 times, depending on thickness and operating voltage. To verify the experimental results, we implement a finite element simulation model that solves the coupled Poisson and drift-diffusion equations in a weak form. It includes space charges, drift and diffusion currents, nonlinear mobility, and charge injection at the boundaries. We find in experiment and simulation that the planar devices exhibit injection-limited currents, whereas the currents in the nanopatterned devices are dominated by space charge effects, overcoming the planar injection limit. The simulations show space charge accumulations at the corners of the nanopattern, confirming the idea of locally space charge-limited currents.

Ultrafast Infrared Photoresponse from Heavily Hydrogen-Doped VO2 Single Crystalline Nanoparticles.

Infrared photodetectors are sought for diverse applications and their performance relies on photoactive materials and photocurrent generation mechanisms. Here, we fabricate IR photodetectors with heavily hydrogen-doped VO2 (i.e., HVO2) single-crystalline nanoparticles which show two orders greater resistivities than pure VO2. The I-V plots obtained under IR light irradiation are expressed by space charge limited current mechanism and the increase in photocurrent occurs due to the increase in the number of photoinduced trap sites. This phenomenon remarkably improves the key parameters at λ = 780 nm of high responsivity of 35280 A/W, high detectivity of 1.12 × 1013 Jones, and strikingly fast response times of 0.6-2.5 ns, that is, 3 orders of magnitude faster than the best records of two-dimensional structures and heterostructures. Density functional theory calculations illustrate that the generation of photoinduced trap sites is attributed to the movement of hydrogen atoms to less stable interstitial sites in VO2 under light exposure.

Vertical Charge Transport via Small Polaron Hopping within TIPS-Pentacene Lamellar Single Crystal.

A modified liquid method is employed to grow an ultralarge 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene crystal, ensuring fabrication and measurements of the two terminal devices. The hole transport mechanism is studied by analyzing the space charge limited currents (SCLCs) at various temperatures. Modified SCLC theory with a small polaron hopping model is developed and employed to successfully simulate the I-V curves. Values of effective hopping distance, transfer integral, and reorganization energy are extracted and reasonably discussed. A scenario is suggested that hopping transport takes place from one molecule to its nearest neighbor along the c-axis, with every molecule acting as a trapping center.

Electrical conduction behavior of organic light-emitting diodes using fluorinated self-assembled monolayer with molybdenum oxide-doped hole transporting layer.

The electrical conductivity behavior of a fluorinated self-assembled monolayer (FSAM) of a molybdenum oxide (MoOx)-doped α-naphthyl diamine derivative (α-NPD) in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) was investigated. The current density of the MoOx-doped α-NPD/FSAM device was proportional to its voltage owing to smooth carrier injection through the FSAM and the high carrier density of its bulk. The temperature-dependent characteristics of this device were investigated. The current density-voltage characteristics at different temperatures were almost the same owing to its very low activation energy. The activation energy of the device was estimated to be 1.056 × 10(-2) [eV] and was very low due to the inelastic electron tunneling of FSAM molecules.

Planar edge Schottky barrier-tunneling transistors using epitaxial graphene/SiC junctions.

A purely planar graphene/SiC field effect transistor is presented here. The horizontal current flow over one-dimensional tunneling barrier between planar graphene contact and coplanar two-dimensional SiC channel exhibits superior on/off ratio compared to conventional transistors employing vertical electron transport. Multilayer epitaxial graphene (MEG) grown on SiC(0001̅) was adopted as the transistor source and drain. The channel is formed by the accumulation layer at the interface of semi-insulating SiC and a surface silicate that forms after high vacuum high temperature annealing. Electronic bands between the graphene edge and SiC accumulation layer form a thin Schottky barrier, which is dominated by tunneling at low temperatures. A thermionic emission prevails over tunneling at high temperatures. We show that neglecting tunneling effectively causes the temperature dependence of the Schottky barrier height. The channel can support current densities up to 35 A/m.

Sensitivity of ZnO Film-Based X-ray Sensors: A Comprehensive Study on the Effect of Thickness of ZnO Layer.

For all types of photosensors, efficient absorption of photons of particular interest is very essential. We report the effect of thickness of the ZnO layer in ZnO film-based X-ray sensors. A set of five samples Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, and Z5 is developed by varying the thickness of the ZnO layer between 10 and 73 µm. The dark I-V characteristics of the sensors show a "pseudorectifying" type nature. A quantitative analysis of the dark currents reveals that the dark I-V characteristics are affected by space charge limited current (SCLC) due to intrinsic defects present in the ZnO films. The effect of the SCLC is prominent in the thicker films in comparison to the thinner ones. The sensors show high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio below 5.0 V bias voltage. The S/N ratio is found to increase with the thickness of the ZnO layer due to efficient absorption of X-ray photons. The photoresponse characteristics of the sensors against dose rate are sublinear between 0.015 and 0.234 Gy/s. The photoresponse time of the sensors are found to be nearly 1 s. The sensitivities of Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, and Z5 sensors at 4.5 V bias voltage for 0.234 Gy/s dose rate are estimated to be 55.51, 337.08, 312.01, 152.81, and 103.52 µC/Gy cm3, respectively. The sensitivity of the device is found to increase with increase in thickness of the ZnO layer and reaches an optimum level for the thickness of about 19-26 µm. Beyond this range, the sensitivity is found to decrease due to the Schubweg effect.

Multilevel resistive switching memory in lead-free double perovskite La[Formula: see text]NiFeO[Formula: see text] films.

Dense and flat La[Formula: see text]NiFeO[Formula: see text] (LNFO) films were fabricated on the indium tin oxide-coated glass (ITO/glass) substrate by sol-gel method. The bipolar resistive switching behavior (BRS) could be maintained in 100 cycles and remained after 30 days, indicating that the LNFO-based RS device owned good memory stability. Surprisingly, the multilevel RS characteristics were firstly observed in the Au/LNFO/ITO/glass device. The high resistance states (HRSs) and low resistance state (LRS) with the maximum ratio of [Formula: see text] 500 could be remained stably in 900 s and 130 cycles, demonstrating the fine retention and endurance ability of this LNFO-based RS device. The BRS behavior of Au/LNFO/ITO/glass devices primarily obeyed the SCLC mechanism controlled by oxygen vacancies (OVs) dispersed in the LNFO layer. Under the external electric field, injected electrons were captured or discharged by OVs during trapping or detrapping process in the LNFO layer. Thus, the resistive state switched between HRS and LRS reversibly. Moreover, the modulation of Schottky-like barrier formed at the Au/LNFO interface was contributed to the resistive states switchover. It was related to the change in OVs located at the dissipative region near the Au/LNFO interface. The multilevel RS ability of LNFO-based devices in this work provides an opportunity for researching deeply on the high density RS memory in lead-free double perovskite oxides-based devices.

Resistive Switching Characteristics Improved by Visible-Light Irradiation in a Cs2AgBiBr6-Based Memory Device.

Light-modulated lead-free perovskites-based memristors, combining photoresponse and memory, are promising as multifunctional devices. In this work, lead-free double perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6 films with dense surfaces and uniform grains were prepared by the low-temperature sol-gel method on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates. A memory device based on a lead-free double perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6 film, Pt/Cs2AgBiBr6/ITO/glass, presents obvious bipolar resistive switching behavior. The ROFF/RON ratio under 445 nm wavelength light illumination is ~100 times greater than that in darkness. A long retention capability (>2400 s) and cycle-to-cycle consistency (>500 times) were observed in this device under light illumination. The resistive switching behavior is primarily attributed to the trap-controlled space-charge-limited current mechanism caused by bromine vacancies in the Cs2AgBiBr6 medium layer. Light modulates resistive states by regulating the condition of photo-generated carriers and changing the Schottky-like barrier of the Pt/Cs2AgBiBr6 interface under bias voltage sweeping.

Steady-State Conduction Current Performance for Multilayer Polyimide/SiO2 Films.

The steady-state electrical conduction current for single and multilayer polyimide (PI) nanocomposite films was observed at the low and high electric field for different temperatures. Experimental data were fitted to conduction models to investigate the dominant conduction mechanism in these films. In most films, space charge limited current (SCLC) and Poole-Frenkel current displayed dominant conduction. At a high electric field, the ohmic conduction was replaced by current-voltage dependency. Higher conduction current was observed for nanocomposite films at a lower temperature, but it declined at a higher temperature. PI nanocomposite multilayer films showed a huge reduction in the conduction current at higher electric fields and temperatures. The conclusions derived in this study would provide the empirical basis and early breakdown phenomenon explanation when performing dielectric strength and partial discharge measurements of PI-based nanocomposite insulation systems of electric motors.

Light-activated Multilevel Resistive Switching Storage in Pt/Cs2AgBiBr6/ITO/Glass Devices.

High-density Cs2AgBiBr6 films with uniform grains were prepared by a simple one-step and low-temperature sol-gel method on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates. An explicit tristate bipolar resistance switching behavior was observed in the Pt/Cs2 AgBiBr6/ITO/glass devices under irradiation of 10 mW/cm2 (445 nm). This behavior was stable over 1200 s. The maximum ratio of the high and low resistance states was about 500. Based on the analysis of electric properties, valence variation and absorption spectra, the resistive switching characteristics were attributed to the trap-controlled space charge-limited current mechanism due to the bromine vacancies in the Cs2AgBiBr6 layer. On the other hand, it is suggested that the ordering of the Schottky-like barrier located at Pt/Cs2AgBiBr6 affects the three-state resistance switching behavior under light irradiation. The ability to adjust the photoelectrical properties of Cs2AgBiBr6-based resistive switching memory devices is a promising strategy to develop high-density memory.

Nanoscale mobility mapping in semiconducting polymer films.

Local electrical properties of thin films of the polymer PTB7 are studied by conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). Non-uniform nanoscale current distribution in the neat PTB7 film is revealed and connected with the existence of ordered PTB7 crystallites. The shape of local I-V curves is explained by the presence of space charge limited current. We modify an existing semi-empirical model for estimation of the nanoscale hole mobility from our experimental C-AFM measurements. The procedure of nanoscale charge mobility estimation was described and applied to the PTB7 films. The calculated average C-AFM hole mobility is in good agreement with macroscopic values reported for this material. Mapping of nanoscale hole mobility was achieved using the described procedure. Local mobility values, influenced by nanoscale structure, vary more than two times in value and have a root-mean-square value 0.22 × 10-8 m2/(Vs), which is almost 20% from average hole mobility.

Memristive Devices from CuO Nanoparticles.

Memristive systems can provide a novel strategy to conquer the von Neumann bottleneck by evaluating information where data are located in situ. To meet the rising of artificial neural network (ANN) demand, the implementation of memristor arrays capable of performing matrix multiplication requires highly reproducible devices with low variability and high reliability. Hence, we present an Ag/CuO/SiO2/p-Si heterostructure device that exhibits both resistive switching (RS) and negative differential resistance (NDR). The memristor device was fabricated on p-Si and Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) substrates via cost-effective ultra-spray pyrolysis (USP) method. The quality of CuO nanoparticles was recognized by studying Raman spectroscopy. The topology information was obtained by scanning electron microscopy. The resistive switching and negative differential resistance were measured from current-voltage characteristics. The results were then compared with the Ag/CuO/ITO device to understand the role of native oxide. The interface barrier and traps associated with the defects in the native silicon oxide limited the current in the negative cycle. The barrier confined the filament rupture and reduced the reset variability. Reset was primarily influenced by the filament rupture and detrapping in the native oxide that facilitated smooth reset and NDR in the device. The resistive switching originated from traps in the localized states of amorphous CuO. The set process was mainly dominated by the trap-controlled space-charge-limited; this led to a transition into a Poole-Frenkel conduction. This research opens up new possibilities to improve the switching parameters and promote the application of RS along with NDR.

Structure and Electronic Properties of InSb Nanowires Grown in Flexible Polycarbonate Membranes.

A dense array of vertically aligned indium antimonide (InSb) nanowires with high aspect ratio (diameter 150 nm, length 20 µ m) were grown in the pores of a track-etched polycarbonate membrane via a one-step electrochemical method. There are several reports on InSb nanowire growth in the pores of a mechanically rigid, nano-channel alumina template (NCA), where nanowire growth occurs in the pores of the NCA. This work on InSb nanowire growth in pores of track-etched polycarbonate (PC) membrane sheds light on the various factors that affect nucleation and nanowire growth. The average length and diameter of the as-grown nanowires was about 10 µ m and 150 nm, respectively. Two possible mechanisms accounting for two different morphologies of the as-grown nanowires are proposed. The polycrystallinity observed in some of the nanowires is explained using the 3D 'nucleation-coalescence' mechanism. On the other hand, single crystal nanowires with a high density of twin defects and stacking faults grow epitaxially by a two-dimensional (2D) nucleation/growth mechanism. To assess the electrical quality of the nanowires, two- and four-terminal devices were fabricated using a single InSb nanowire contacted by two Ni electrodes. It was found that, at low bias, the ohmic current is controlled by charge diffusion from the bulk contacts. On the other hand, at high bias, the effects of space charge limited current (SCLC) are evident in the current-voltage behavior, characteristic of transport through structures with reduced electrostatic screening. A cross-over from ohmic to SCLC occurs at about 0.14 V, yielding a free carrier concentration of the order of 10 14 cm - 3 .

Synthesis of Amorphous InSb Nanowires and a Study of the Effects of Laser Radiation and Thermal Annealing on Nanowire Crystallinity.

Although various synthesis and characterization strategies have been employed for the synthesis of crystalline nanowires, there is very little work done on development of low-dimensional amorphous semiconductors. This paper presents a simple strategy to grow amorphous InSb (a-InSb) nanowires (NWs) in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system. The NWs were grown on Si substrate coated with indium film and the lack of crystallinity in the as-grown stoichiometric NWs was ascertained by Raman spectroscopy and electron transport measurements. A model proposed to explain the amorphous NW growth mechanism takes into account the fact that NW growth was carried out at the high temperature ramp-up rate of 75 ∘C/min. This high rate is believed to affect the growth kinematics and determine the arrangement of atoms in the growing NW. Raman spectrum of the as-grown sample shows a broad peak around 155 cm-1, indicative of the presence of high density of homopolar Sb-Sb bonds in the amorphous matrix. It was also found that high intensity laser light induces localized crystallization of the NW, most likely due to radiation-stimulated diffusion of defects in a-InSb. The nonlinear trend of the current-voltage characteristics for individually contacted a-InSb NWs was analyzed to prove that the non-linearity is not induced by Schottky contacts. At high bias fields, space charge limited conduction was the proposed electron transport mechanism. Post-growth annealing of the as-grown a-InSb NWs was found to be very effective in causing the NWs to undergo a phase transition from amorphous to crystalline.

Reliable and Low-Power Multilevel Resistive Switching in TiO2 Nanorod Arrays Structured with a TiOx Seed Layer.

The electrical performance of TiO2 nanorod array (NRA)-based resistive switching memory devices is examined in this paper. The formation of a seed layer on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate after treatment in TiCl4 solution, before the growth of TiO2 NRAs on the FTO substrate via a hydrothermal process, is shown to significantly improve the resistive switching performance of the resulting TiO2 NRA-based device. As fabricated, the Al/TiO2 NRA/TiOx layer/FTO device displayed electroforming-free bipolar resistive switching behavior while maintaining a stable ON/OFF ratio for more than 500 direct sweeping cycles over a retention period of 3 × 104 s. Meanwhile, the programming current as low as ∼10-8 A and 10-10 A for low resistance state and high resistance state respectively makes the fabricated devices suitable for low-power memristor applications. The TiOx precursor seed layer not only promotes the uniform and preferred growth of TiO2 nanorods on the FTO substrate but also functions as an additional source layer of trap centers due to its oxygen-deficient composition. Our data suggest that the primary conduction mechanism in these devices arises from trap-mediated space-charge-limited current (SCLC). Multilevel memory performance in this new device is achieved by varying the SET voltage. The origin of this effect is also discussed.

An All-Organic Composite System for Resistive Change Memory via the Self-Assembly of Plastic-Crystalline Molecules.

An all-organic composite system was introduced as an active component for organic resistive memory applications. The active layer was prepared by mixing a highly polar plastic-crystalline organic molecule (succinonitrile, SN) into an insulating polymer (poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA). As increasing concentrations of SN from 0 to 3.0 wt % were added to solutions of different concentrations of PMMA, we observed distinguishable microscopic surface structures on blended films of SN and PMMA at certain concentrations after the spin-casting process. The structures were organic dormant volcanos composed of micron-scale PMMA craters and disk type SN lava. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) analysis showed that these structures were located in the middle of the film. Self-assembly of the plastic-crystalline molecules resulted in the phase separation of the SN:PMMA mixture during solvent evaporation. The organic craters remained at the surface after the spin-casting process, indicative of the formation of an all-organic composite film. Because one organic crater contains one SN disk, our system has a coplanar monolayer disk composite system, indicative of the simplest composite type of organic memory system. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the composite films with organic craters revealed that our all-organic composite system showed unipolar type resistive switching behavior. From logarithmic I-V characteristics, we found that the current flow was governed by space charge limited current (SCLC). From these results, we believe that a plastic-crystalline molecule-polymer composite system is one of the most reliable ways to develop organic composite systems as potential candidates for the active components of organic resistive memory applications.

Interfacial Depletion Regions: Beyond the Space Charge Limit in Thick Bulk Heterojunctions.

Space charge limited photocurrent is typically described as the limiting factor in carrier extraction efficiency for organic bulk heterojunctions with increasing thickness. It successfully characterizes the carrier extraction efficiency in these devices with thin to moderate thickness and dissimilar carrier mobilities. However, in this article we show that space charge limited photocurrent cannot solely explain the intensity dependent spectral response of extremely thick organic photovoltaics. In addition, interfacial depletion regions near the contacts contribute to the field distribution and carrier collection. Here, we describe charge collection efficiency with an optical p-i-n model, allowing for collection from band bending due to mobility-induced and interfacial-doping-induced space charge regions. We verify the model with up to 1400 nm thick spray-coated devices in both p-i-n (conventional) and n-i-p (inverted) architecture, including variations of thickness, illumination intensity, transport materials, and bifacial (semitransparent) devices.

Electrical transport properties of an isolated CdS microrope composed of twisted nanowires.

CdS is one of the important II-VI group semiconductors. In this paper, the electrical transport behavior of an individual CdS microrope composed of twisted nanowires is studied. It is found that the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics show two distinct power law regions from 360 down to 60 K. Space-charge-limited current (SCLC) theory is used to explain these temperature- and electric-field-dependent I-V curves. The I-V data can be well fitted by this theory above 100 K, and the corresponding carrier mobility, trap energy, and trap concentration are also obtained. However, the I-V data exhibit some features of the Coulomb blockade effect below 80 K.

Conjugated foldamers with unusually high space-charge-limited current hole mobilities.

Charge carrier mobility and its optimization play a critical role in the development of cutting-edge organic electronic and optoelectronic devices. Even though space-charge-limited current (SCLC) hole mobilities as high as 1.4 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) have been reported for microscopically sized highly ordered liquid-crystalline conjugated small molecules, the SCLC hole mobility of device-sized thin films of conjugated polymers is still much lower, ranging from 10(-6) to 10(-3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). Herein, we report the synthesis, characterizations, and thin-film SCLC mobility of three discotic conjugated polymers, INDT-TT, INDT-BT, and INDT-NDT. Optical studies indicate that polymer INDT-NDT adopts a folded conformation in solutions of good or poor solvents, whereas polymer INDT-TT stays as random monomeric chains in good solvents and interchain aggregates in poor solvents. INDT-BT polymer chains, however, stay as foldamers in dilute solutions of good solvents but interchain aggregates in concentrated solutions or poor solvents. Circular dichroism spectroscopy provides clear evidence for the helical folding of INDT-NDT in solutions. Thin films spin-coated from 1,2-dichlorobenzene solutions of the polymers show SCLC hole mobility of 2.20 × 10(-6), 8.79 × 10(-5), and 2.77 × 10(-2) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) for INDT-TT, INDT-BT, and INDT-NDT, respectively. HRTEM and powder XRD measurements show that INDT-NDT pristine thin films contain nanocrystalline domains, whereas the INDT-TT and INDT-BT films are amorphous. Thin films of INDT-NDT:PC71BM blends show increased crystallinity and further improved SCLC hole mobility up to 1.29 × 10(-1) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), one of the highest SCLC mobility values ever recorded on solution-processed organic semiconducting thin films. The persistent folding conformation of INDT-NDT is believed to be responsible for the high crystallinity of its thin films and its high SCLC mobilities.