Theoretical and experimental investigation into environment dependence and electric properties for volatile memory based on methyl-red dye thin film

The environment dependence and electric properties of Ni/methyl-red/Ni organic device were both theoretically and experimentally investigated at room temperature. This volatile memory consists of methyl-red layer (∼200 nm) with a planar geometry. The results demonstrated that (a) applying low-voltage pulses increases conductivity from 10−6 S cm−1 (OFF) to 10−5 S cm−1 (ON); (b) measurements of current–voltage show a peak-to-valley ratio of 8:1 [10:1] under positive [negative] bias; (c) the electric feature of this dye memory is due the Schottky barrier in the metal/methyl-red interface with negative differential resistance effect. These semiconductor characteristics indicate that this azo aromatic compound is promising for applications in volatile memory arrays.