ORaCEL Researchers Make the First Flexible Memory Device Using Oxide Ferroelectric Material

April 28, 2017

For the first time, ORaCEL researchers have been able to deposit an ultra-thin oxide ferroelectric film onto a flexible polymer substrate. The research team used the flexible ferroelectric thin films to make non-volatile memory devices that are wearable and resilient. Please click here for more details.

This research work was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials.

“Flexible Inorganic Ferroelectric Thin Films for Non-Volatile Memory Devices”

Authors: Hyeonggeun Yu, Ching-Chang Chung, Nate Shewmon, Szuheng Ho, Joshua H. Carpenter, Ryan Larrabee, Tianlei Sun, Jacob L. Jones, Harald Ade, Brendan T. O’Connor, and Franky So, North Carolina State University

Published: April 12, 2017 in Advanced Functional Materials

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201700461

Abstract: Next-generation wearable electronics calls for flexible non-volatile devices for ubiquitous data storage. Thus far, only organic ferroelectric materials have shown intrinsic flexibility and processibility on plastic substrates. Here, we discovered that by controlling the heating rate, ferroelectric hafnia films can be grown on plastic substrates. The resulting highly flexible capacitor with a film thickness of 30 nm yielded a remnant polarization of 10 ?C/cm2. Bending test shows that the film ferroelectricity can be retained under a bending radius below 8 mm with bending cycle up to 1,000 times. The excellent flexibility is due to the extremely thin hafnia film thickness. Using the ferroelectric film as a gate insulator, a low voltage non-volatile vertical organic transistor was demonstrated on a plastic substrate with an extrapolated date retention time up to 10 years.