ORGANIC MATERIALS: New Polymer/Silicon Memory Device.

Electronic Materials Update, December, 2003

Engineers at Princeton University and Hewlett-Packard (HP) have combined a conducting polymer with a thin-film silicon diode to form a hybrid organic/inorganic memory device. The device could be an inexpensive means of rapid, large-scale archival data storage, say the researchers.

Their work, reported in the November 13, 2003 issue of Nature, exploits a previously unrecognized property of a commonly used conductive electrochromic polymer. The polymer is polyethylenedioxythiophene (PEDT): polystyrene sulphonic acid (PSS), known as PEDOT. This transparent material has been used for years as an antistatic coating on photographic film, and more recently for electrical contacts on video displays that require light to pass through the circuitry.

Group member Sven...