Charge disproportionate molecular redox for discrete memristive and memcapacitive switching. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Electronic symmetry breaking by charge disproportionation results in multifaceted changes in the electronic, magnetic and optical properties of a material, triggering ferroelectricity, metal/insulator transition and colossal magnetoresistance. Yet, charge disproportionation lacks technological relevance because it occurs only under specific physical conditions of high or low temperature or high pressure. Here we demonstrate a voltage-triggered charge disproportionation in thin molecular films of a metal-organic complex occurring in ambient conditions. This provides a technologically relevant molecular route for simultaneous realization of a ternary memristor and a binary memcapacitor, scalable down to a device area of 60nm2. Supported by mathematical modelling, our results establish that multiple memristive states can be functionally non-volatile, yet discrete-a combination perceived as theoretically prohibited. Our device could be used as a binary or ternary memristor, a binary memcapacitor or both concomitantly, and unlike the existing 'continuous state' memristors, its discrete states are optimal for high-density, ultra-low-energy digital computing.

published proceedings

  • Nat Nanotechnol

altmetric score

  • 93.64

author list (cited authors)

  • Goswami, S., Rath, S. P., Thompson, D., Hedstrm, S., Annamalai, M., Pramanick, R., ... Venkatesan, T.

citation count

  • 50

complete list of authors

  • Goswami, Sreetosh||Rath, Santi P||Thompson, Damien||Hedström, Svante||Annamalai, Meenakshi||Pramanick, Rajib||Ilic, B Robert||Sarkar, Soumya||Hooda, Sonu||Nijhuis, Christian A||Martin, Jens||Williams, R Stanley||Goswami, Sreebrata||Venkatesan, T

publication date

  • May 2020