New organic gold nanoparticle memory components

Researchers have just developed a new type of spare part that uses gold nanoparticles and organic semiconductor compounds. This new pairing is a key step towards developing memory using organic plastics, which is likely to be cheaper and more flexible than traditional silicon memory used in computers, Flash drives and other applications (According to the results published in Applied Physics Letters 90 042906, 2007 ).

"The ability of gold nanoparticles to self-assemble together creates orderly fragments that give them a great advantage in applying to silicon memory, which has been shown by many studies. We have The next step is to combine them with pentacene to form a new organic memory system, "said Wei Lin Leong, scientist at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) on PhysOrg.com. Leong is the lead author of the paper recently published in the journal Applied Physics Letters recently.

Components are a multi-layer structure. Looking down from above, it contains a gold electrode, a pentacene layer, gold nanoparticles, a layer of compound used to help nanoparticles adhere to the bottom layer, and the bottom layer is SiO ₂ substrate. / Si forms the second electrode (see figure below).

Nanoparticles will act as load-and-charge elements of components, key elements that make up the ability to store information. They are arranged on a layer, and each particle has a diameter of 3 to 5 nm. To create sustainability, the researchers covered the particles by citrate, a citric acid salt, like the peanuts in peanut candy. The pentacene layer forms the semiconductor layer of components.

(Photo: Wei Lin Leong)

The researchers tested the memory capacity of the device by measuring the ability to react under different potentials . By a similar control, they created a similar structure but did not contain gold nanoparticles. The component cannot store the charge, while the component contains the nanoparticles for the opposite ability: Under a negative voltage, assemble the holes that are pumped into the pentacene layer and they are pulled back and Trapped in nanoparticles. Placing a positive voltage will release these holes.

"The achievement of using gold nanoparticles stabilized with citrate as a" nanoelectronic "trap by an effect of simplification in design and processing can help achieve components and memory circuits. can be integrated in low-cost electronic applications " - Leong said - " Actually, this research is part of a big project called Polymer Electronics and Polymer (PMED), which is partnering between the Commission. Science and Technology Research (ASTAR) and Nanyang Technological University, with the aim of creating organic circuits on large panels such as computers, TV screens . We hope to achieve progress in this study with the study of component durability and data maintenance ".

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