Memory mechanism of printable ferroelectric TFT memory with tertiary structured polypeptide as a dielectric layer

Printable nonvolatile memory devices have been attracting considerable interest because of their application to flexible large-area devices. In order to fabricate such memory devices, it is necessary to discover a new ferroelectric material and to develop an efficient process for its preparation. We have previously reported that poly(gamma-methyl-L-glutamate) (PMLG) functions as a ferroelectric layer of an organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) memory device [S. Uemura, A. Komukai, R. Sakaida, M. Yoshida, S. Hoshino,T Kodzasa,T. Kamata, Synth. Met. 153 (2005)405]. Further, ferroelectricity is observed when alpha-helical PMLG molecules are aligned in a direction parallel to the film surface. In this study, we investigate the effect of the tertiary structure of PMLG molecules on the hysteresis of OTFT memory devices, i.e., memory performance. From the results, we conclude that the hysteresis of the OTFT is strongly affected by the helical tertiary structure of PMLG molecules, similar to the structure of a cholesteric liquid crystal phase. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.