Plastic memory

Researchers at the

in the

and scientists at

have developed novel organic field-effect transistors that use a gate dielectric (the insulating layer between the transistor's gate and its channel) composed of a polymer ferroelectric material.

Ferroelectrics are materials that can be switched between two different 'charge' states by the application of a high voltage pulse. Each state is stable, persisting long after the voltage pulse is removed.

Although FeFET (Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistor) structures have been developed before, the University of Groningen/Philips Research team claims that it’s the first to produce a device with a short programming time, long data retention time and high program-cycle endurance using a low-temperature low-cost technology.

‘One of the major breakthroughs we have made is finding ways of laying down the different layers of material in such a way that the ferroelectric effect is not masked by other effects such as charge trapping at the interface between the ferroelectric and semiconducting layers or by material impurities,’ said Ronald Naber at the University of Groningen.