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Trapping of electrons in metal oxide-polymer memory diodes in the initial stage of electroforming

, ; , ; Gomes, H.L.

Applied Physics Letters Vol. 97, Nº 22, pp. 222106 - 222106-3, November, 2010.

ISSN (print): 1077-3118
ISSN (online): 0003-6951

Scimago Journal Ranking: 2,92 (in 2010)

Digital Object Identifier: 10.1063/1.3520517

Abstract
Metal oxide-polymer diodes require electroforming before they act as nonvolatile resistive switching memory diodes. Here we investigate the early stages of the electroforming process in Al/Al2O3/poly(spirofluorene)/Ba/Al diodes using quasistatic capacitance-voltage measurements. In the initial stage, electrons are injected into the polymer and then deeply trapped near the poly(spirofluorene)-Al2O3 interface. For bias voltages below 6 V, the number of trapped electrons is found to be CoxideV/q with Coxide as the geometrical capacitance of the oxide layer. This implies a density of traps for the electrons at the polymer-metal oxide interface larger than 3×1017 m-2.