Resistive switching characteristics of ZnO–graphene quantum dots and their use as an active component of an organic memory cell with one diode-one resistor architecture

•Polystyrene:ZnO–graphene quantum dots(PS:ZnO–G QDs) system was used as an active layer for organic non-volatile memory device.•The one diode-one resistor architecture can effectively reduce cross-talk issue.•The readout margin calculation estimates that 1D-1R cross bar array can be integrated as large as ∼3 kbit.

We investigated the resistive switching characteristics of a polystyrene:ZnO–graphene quantum dots system and its potential application in a one diode-one resistor architecture of an organic memory cell. The log–log I–V plot and the temperature-variable I–V measurements revealed that the switching mechanism in a low-current state is closely related to thermally activated transport. The turn-on process was induced by a space-charge-limited current mechanism resulted from the ZnO–graphene quantum dots acting as charge trap sites, and charge transfer through filamentary path. The memory device with a diode presented a ∼103 ION/IOFF ratio, stable endurance cycles (102 cycles) and retention times (104 s), and uniform cell-to-cell switching. The one diode-one resistor architecture can effectively reduce cross-talk issue and realize a cross bar array as large as ∼3 kbit in the readout margin estimation. Furthermore, a specific word was encoded using the standard ASCII character code.

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