Ultrathin flexible memory devices based on organic ferroelectric transistors

Here, we demonstrate ultrathin, flexible nonvolatile memory devices with excellent durability under compressive strain. Ferroelectric-gate field-effect transistors (FeFETs) employing organic semiconductor and polymer ferroelectric layers are fabricated on a 1-µm-thick plastic film substrate. The FeFETs are characterized by measuring their transfer characteristics, programming time, and data retention time. The data retention time is almost unchanged even when a 50% compressive strain is applied to the devices. To clarify the origin of the excellent durability of the devices against compressive strain, an intermediate plane is calculated. From the calculation result, the intermediate plane is placed close to the channel region of the FeFETs. The high flexibility of the ferroelectric polymer and ultrathin device structure contributes to achieving a bending radius of 0.8 µm without the degradation of memory characteristics.