Trap-Assisted Charge Storage in Titania Nanocrystals toward Optoelectronic Nonvolatile Memory

Transistor-based memories are of particular significance in the pursuit of next-generation nonvolatile memories. The charge storage medium in a transistor-based memory is pivotal to the device performance. In this report, nitrogen doping titania nanocrystals (N-TiO2 NCs) synthesized through a low-temperature nonhydrolytic method are used as the charge storage medium in a graphene transistor-based memory. The decoration of the N-TiO2 NCs enables the device to perform as an ultraviolet (UV) light-programmable nonvolatile optoelectronic memory. Multilevel nonvolatile information recording can be realized through accurate control of the incident light dose, which is ascribed to the vast and firm hole trapping abilities of the N-TiO2 NCs induced by the N dopant. Accordingly, a positive gate voltage can be used to erase the programmed state by promoting the recombination of stored holes in N-TiO2 NCs. This study manifests the importance of trap engineering for information storage and provides an alternative path toward nonvolatile optoelectronic memory.