Observation of irreversible current path in polymer dielectric using conductive atomic force microscope

During the measurement of the electrical properties of a metal-polymer-metal capacitor, it was found that the capacitor exhibited write-once-read-many-times (WORM) memory behavior, even though it was made of the dielectric polymer, polystyrene. The initial low conductance state changed to a high conductance state when a threshold voltage was applied, but this final state never reverted to the initial state. This phenomenon only appeared in sub-100-nm-thick films. To understand this phenomenon, conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM) was used. The current distribution measured with CAFM showed an irreversible current path had formed near particles in the polymer film. For reproducibility, particles were intentionally inserted into the polymer film during the fabrication of metal-polymer-metal capacitors, and the same current mechanism was found. From these results, it is concluded that the purification and cleaning process of organic devices severely affects the device characteristics. In addition, particle-insertion appears to be a promising method for fabrication low-cost and air-stable WORM type memory for various applications.