title: charge storage behavior of nanowire transistors functionalized with bis(terpyridine)-Fe(II) molecules: dependence on molecular structure.
abstract: We studied the influence of three bis(terpyridine)-Fe(II) molecules-(X-tpy)2FeCl2 (X = H (1), SAc (2), and 4-phenyl-SAc (3)-on charge storage of a nanowire transistor. The molecules were assembled on the surface of an indium oxide nanowire that forms the conduction channel of the transistor. We found that the charge storage characteristics of such a device strongly depends on the structure of the terpyridine ligand: both retention time (tau) and threshold voltage shift (DeltaVth) increased in the order of 1 < 2 < 3, with tau of 200 s, 12 h, and 287 h and DeltaVth at 4.8, 12, and 28 V, respectively. Furthermore, when we placed the devices with molecules 1 and 3 in a vacuum and recorded the I-Vg curves in a two-day period, we observed higher hysteresis stability for device with molecule 3. For example, DeltaVth was reduced from 4.8 to 1.7 V for the device with molecule 1, while there was no reduction in DeltaVth for the device with molecule 2. These results suggest that thiolate headgroup and/or longer ligand length raises the charge tunneling barrier and results in longer charge retention and wider, more stable memory window. This work demonstrates the potential of chemical synthesis toward tailored device characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanotechnology, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Straus
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.forename: Daihua
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyyappan
authors.forename: Chongwu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou