Novel Organic PinMOS Memory Can Be Written, Read Both Electrically and Optically

Researchers from the Technische Universität Dresden and Weierstraß Institute Berlin have published a paper detailing a new form of organic memory which can be used as an electrical or optical component: pinMOS.

"In recent decades, organic memory devices have been researched intensely and they can, among other application scenarios, play an important role in the vision of an internet of things," the team's abstract explains. "Here, a new type of programmable organic capacitive memory called p‐i‐n‐metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (pinMOS) memory is demonstrated with the possibility to store multiple states.

"Another attractive property is that this simple, diode‐based pinMOS memory can be written as well as read electrically and optically. The pinMOS memory device shows excellent repeatability, an endurance of more than 104 write‐read‐erase‐read cycles, and currently already over 24h retention time. The working mechanism of the pinMOS memory under dynamic and steady‐state operations is investigated to identify further optimisation steps. The results reveal that the pinMOS memory principle is promising as a reliable capacitive memory device for future applications in electronic and photonic circuits like in neuromorphic computing or visual memory systems."

The team's work build on a paper published in 1952 by Arthur W. Holt describing a diode-capacitor memory component — something the team has revived and refreshed through the use of organic semiconductors which bundle all the functions of a discrete connection of diodes and capacitor into a single memory cell.

The component is detailed in the team's paper, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials under open access terms. While the team concludes the device is easily fabricated, it has not yet offered a timescale for commercialization.