Switching memory cells constructed on plastic substrates with silver selenide nanoparticles

Programmable metallization cell (PMC) memory is a kind of next generation non-volatile memory that has attracted increasing attention in recent years as a possible replacement for flash memory. In spite of the considerable amount of research focused on the fabrication of non-volatile memories on plastic substrates with lightweight, thin, and bendable characteristics, there have been few studies on the fabrication of PCM memory on flexible substrates. In this study, we synthesized Ag2Se nanoparticles (NPs) by a positive-microemulsion method and constructed PMC memories on plastic substrates with programmable layers formed by the spin-coating of the Ag2Se NPs. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first attempt to construct PMC memory on plastic substrates by the spin-coating of Ag2Se NPs. The Ag2Se NPs synthesized in this study had a uniform size of 2 nm and interestingly showed α-phase (high temperature phase) stability at room temperature. Switching behaviors were observed through the voltage scanning on the fabricated memories with applicable switching voltages. However, the resistance ratios of the off-state to the on-state were quite small. The possible reasons for the α-phase stability of the Ag2Se NPs at room temperature and the detailed memory characteristics will be described in this article.