PLASTIC MEMORY

Technical Seminar report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements

for the

Award of the degree of

Bachelor of Engineering
in

Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering

of

Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi

by

MOHITH NAYAK M 1SI16EI021

Department of Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering

SIDDAGANGA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
TUMAKURU-572103
2019-2020
Plastic Memory 2019-2020

ABSTRACT
A line of advances in organic new memory technology is demonstrated that enable an entirely
new low-cost Memory technology. Inventors incorporate these advances with the one of the
most flexible material PLASTIC. This novel memory technology can be utilized in a 3D
onetime- programmable storage array. Without the prohibitive costs of silicon processing, this
memory is able of setting cost points several orders of magnitude lower than their inorganic
counterpart. They have also progressively integrated this technology onto flexible plastic
substrates. Combined with stacking these vertical memory elements can create read only
memory densities denser than many inorganic memories. At a fraction of the cost a
conducting plastic has the potential to put into a mega bit of data in a millimeter square
device, 10 times denser than current magnetic memories. This system is cheap and fast, but
cannot be rewritten, so would only be suitable for permanent storage. The system sand
winches a blob of a conducting polymer called PEDOT and a silicon diode between
perpendicular connections. The key to the new technology was discovered by passing high
current through PEDOT (Polyethylene dioxythiophene) which converts it into an insulator.
Rather like blowing a fuse. The polymer has two possible states conductor and insulator that
form the one and zero, necessary to put into digital data.

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CONTENTS

Abstract
List of figures

Chapter Title Page

No
1. Introduction 4

2. Proposed work 6

3. Features Limitations Applications and conclusion 13

4. References 17

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LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1.1 Construction of Plastic Memory.

Fig. 2.1 Image containing PEDOT

Fig. 2.2 Floating gate MOSFET

Fig. 2.3 Computer Storage Devices – CD ROM

Fig. 2.4 Classification of electron based NVM

Fig. 2.5 Circuit of 1T1C Memory cell

Fig. 2.6 Simplified structure of MRAM cell

Fig. 2.7 Spin Transfer Torque MRAM

Fig. 2.8 Thermal Assisted Switching

Fig. 3.1 Flexible memory used in RFID tags

Fig. 3.2 Flexible memory used in medical monitoring systems

Fig. 3.3 Flexible memory used in electronic maps

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Chapter 1

Introduction
The techniques of ubiquitous computing are extremely attractive. The idea of electronics
integrated into everyday items is extremely attractive, but immediately well beyond the cost
structure inherent to silicon chips. From integrated displays to radio-frequency clarification,
silicon solutions remain economically out of reach due to high material costs, processing
costs, and the need for safe-room fabrication. In addition, Complementary transfer-free
approach has recently been introduced. Standard fabrication processes improve the flexibility
of the substrate. These approaches are all geared towards achieving fully flexible electronic
systems. The three main components in any electronic system are processing units, the main
memory and storage. Being manipulated and fixed to a temporary and dormant shape under
specific conditions of temperature and stress, the major focus points of organic-based
electronics to date include chemical sensors, show and the pixel addressing circuits.

Organic memories based on polymer materials have recently attracted more attention as one
of the future data storage devices. They are proposed to revolutionize electrical applications
by providing extremely inexpensive, lightweight, and transparent modules that can be
fabricated onto plastic, glass, or the top layer of CMOS hybrid integration circuits. However,
the application of organic/polymer memories faces serious challenges. Most organic
materials feature frailty during the standard CMOS lithography processes. This is the main
reason why most organic memory devices have a large size of millimeters using shadow-
mask-patterning technology.

1.1Literature Review
The recent progress in the memory was a new form of permanent computer memory which uses
plastic and may be much low cost and speeder than the existing silicon Circuits which were
invented by researchers at Princeton University experienced with Hewlett-Packard. This disk is
technically a hybrid that contains a plastic film, a flexible foil substrate and some silicon.

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The discovery, gained by HP and Princeton in Forrest's university laboratory, came during work
with a polymer material called PEDOT- a perfect conducting plastic used as coating on
photographic film and as electrical consult on video displays. It was Princeton postdoctoral
Steven Moller, now with Hewlett Packard, who found that PEDOT conducts electricity at short
voltages but permanently, loses its conductivity when exposed to higher electrical currents,
building it act like a circuit breaker.

Fig. 1.1 Construction of Plastic Memory

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Chapter 2

Proposed Work

2.1 Overview of Plastic Memory

Plastic memory is one type of organic semiconductor device. Imagine a scenario where the
memory stored in your digital camera or personal digital assistant is specially based on one of the
most flexible materials made by man: PLASTIC. A new memory Technology that could store more
data and cost less than traditional silicon-based chips for mobile systems such as handheld
computers, cell phones and MP3 players. A conducting plastic has been used to make a new
memory technology with the potential to store a megabit of data in a millimeter-square device ten
times broader than current magnetic memories. The device should also be cheap and fast, but
cannot be rewritten, so would only be perfect for permanent storage. The beauty of the device is
that it combines the best of silicon technology diodes with the ability to form a fuse, which does
not exist in silicon. This utilizes a previously unknown property of a lower, transparent plastic
called PEDOT - short for Polyethylene dioxythiophene. The information density is high as a
megabit per square millimeter. By stacking layers of memory, a cubic centimeter device could pick
as much as a gigabyte and be lower enough to compete with CDs and DVD. However, turning the
polymer into an insulator includes a permanent chemical change, meaning the memory can only be
written to once. Its builders say this makes it ideal for archiving images and other information
directly from a digital camera.

Fig. 2.1 Image containing PEDOT

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2.2 NVM Architectures

Non-volatile memory (NVM) or non-volatile storage is a type of computer memory that can
retrieve stored information even after having been power cycled. Non-volatile memory typically
refers to storage in semiconductor memory chips, which store data in floating-gate memory cells
consisting of floating gate MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors),
including flash memory storage such as NAND flash and solid-state drives (SSD), and ROM
chips such as EPROM (erasable programmable ROM) and EEPROM (electrically erasable
programmable ROM). It can also be classified as traditional non-volatile disk storage.

Fig. 2.2 Floating gate MOSFET

Non-volatile data storage can be categorized into electrically addressed systems (read-only
memory) and mechanically addressed systems (hard disks, optical disc, magnetic tape,
holographic memory, and such). Generally speaking, electrically addressed systems are expensive,
have limited capacity, but are fast, whereas mechanically addressed systems are more cost
effective per bit, but are slower.

Fig. 2.3 Computer Storage Devices – CD ROM

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NVM architectures are an important element in memory design that can be classified into three
main categories, the 1T, where the memory cell is composed of a single transistor (T-stands for
transistor), the 1T1C or 1T1R, where the memory cell is composed of an access/select transistor
and a non-volatile storage structure (C-stands for capacitor and R stands for resistor) and the
2T2C (two transistors and two capacitors per memory bit). Other variations of these main
architectures and different arrangements, such as the 1T2C, have also been reported. Furthermore,
there are differences in the way memory cells are connected to each other. For instance, NOR-
type flash and NAND-type flash memories both have 1T architecture but different cell
connections. MRAM performs on typical RAM (NVM) in various features. The features like
retaining data after the power supply cut off, high power speed and less consumption of
electricity.

Fig. 2.4 Classification of electron based NVM

Fig. 2.5 Circuit of 1T1C Memory cell

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2.3 Flexible Magnetic Plastic Memory Device

The new plastic memory device performs on magneto resistive random-access memory (MRAM).
This MRAM uses magnesium oxide based magnetic tunnel (MTJ) to data.

Magneto resistive random-access memory (MRAM) is a type of non-volatile random-access

memory which stores data in magnetic domains.

Unlike conventional RAM chip technologies, data in MRAM is not stored as electric charge or
current flows, but by magnetic storage elements. The elements are formed from two ferromagnetic
plates, each of which can hold a magnetization, separated by a thin insulating layer. One of the two
plates is a permanent magnet set to a particular polarity. The other plate's magnetization can be
changed to match that of an external field to store memory. This configuration is known as a
magnetic tunnel junction and is the simplest structure for an MRAM bit. A memory device is built
from a grid of such "cells".

Fig. 2.6 Simplified structure of MRAM cell

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2.4 Magnetic Memory chip working with Bendy Plastic

A new technique implants a high-performance magnetic memory chip on a flexible plastic surface
without compromising performance. This invention, developed at the National University of
Singapore, brings researchers a step closer towards making flexible, wearable electronics a reality.
―Flexible electronics will become the norm in the near future, and all new electronic components
should be compatible with flexible electronics, says study leader Yang Hyunsoo, an associate
professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering. The research team has
successfully embedded a powerful magnetic memory chip on a flexible plastic material. The device
could be a critical component for the design and development of flexible and lightweight devices.
The work could find uses in the automotive industry, healthcare electronics, industrial motor
control and robotics, industrial power and energy management, as well as military and avionics
systems. The new device operates on magneto-resistive random-access memory (MRAM), which
uses a magnesium oxide based magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) to store data. MRAM outperforms
conventional random-access memory (RAM) computer chips in many aspects, including the ability
to retain data after a power supply is cut off, high processing speed, and low power consumption.

The simplest method of reading is accomplished by measuring the electrical resistance of the cell.
A particular cell is (typically) selected by powering an associated transistor that switches current
from a supply line through the cell to ground. Due to the tunnel magneto resistance, the electrical
resistance of the cell changes due to the relative orientation of the magnetization in the two plates.
By measuring the resulting current, the resistance inside any particular cell can be determined, and
from this the magnetization polarity of the writable plate. Typically, if the two plates have the same
magnetization alignment (low resistance state) this is considered to mean "1", while if the
alignment is antiparallel the resistance will be higher (high resistance state) and this means "0".
Data is written to the cells using a variety of means. In the simplest "classic" design, each cell lies
between a pair of write lines arranged at right angles to each other, parallel to the cell, one above
and one below the cell

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When current is passed through them, an induced magnetic field is created at the junction, which the
writable plate picks up. This pattern of operation is similar to magnetic-core memory, a system
commonly used in the 1960s. This approach requires a fairly substantial current to generate the field,
however, which makes it less interesting for low-power uses, one of MRAM's primary
disadvantages. Additionally, as the device is scaled down in size, there comes a time when the
induced field overlaps adjacent cells over a small area, leading to potential false writes. This
problem, the half-select (or write disturb) problem, appears to set a fairly large minimal size for this
type of cell. One experimental solution to this problem was to use circular domains written and read
using the giant magneto resistive effect, but it appears that this line of research is no longer active.

A newer technique, spin-transfer torque (STT) or spin-transfer switching, uses spin-aligned

("polarized") electrons to directly torque the domains. Specifically, if the electrons flowing into a
layer have to change their spin, this will develop a torque that will be transferred to the nearby
layer. This lowers the amount of current needed to write the cells, making it about the same as the
read process. There are concerns that the "classic" type of MRAM cell will have difficulty at high
densities due to the amount of current needed during writes, a problem that STT avoids. For this
reason, the STT proponents expect the technique to be used for devices of 65 nm and smaller. The
downside is the need to maintain the spin coherence. Overall, the STT requires much less write
current than conventional or toggle MRAM. Research in this field indicates that STT current can be
reduced up to 50 times by using a new composite structure. However, higher-speed operation still
requires higher current.

Fig. 2.7 Spin Transfer Torque MRAM

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Other potential arrangements include "thermal-assisted switching" (TAS-MRAM), which briefly

heats up (reminiscent of phase-change memory) the magnetic tunnel junctions during the write
process and keeps the MTJs stable at a lower temperature the rest of the time and "vertical transport
MRAM" (VMRAM), which uses current through a vertical column to change magnetic orientation,
a geometric arrangement that reduces the write disturb problem and so can be used at higher
density.

Fig. 2.8 Thermal Assisted Switching

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Chapter 3

Features, Limitations, Applications and Conclusion

3.1 Features of Plastic Memory

• Data stored by changing the polarization of the polymer between metal lines.

• Zero transistors per bit of storage.

• Memory is Nonvolatile.

• Microsecond initial reads. Write speed faster than NAND and NOR Flash.

• Simple and easy to integrate with another CMOS device

• No cell standby power or refresh required

• Operational temperature between -40°C -110°C

3.2 Advantages of Plastic Memory

• Plastic memory is fast. Lab built devices with a 1GB storage capacity have yielded read/write
cycle times that are 10 times faster than Compact Flash, which are typically 2- 10MB/s read,
1-4MB/s write.
• Memory is Non volatile
• Fast read and write speeds
• It requires far fewer transistors, typically only 0.5M (million) for 1GB of storage compared
to silicon’s 1.5-6.5B (billion)
• Very low cost/bit, high capacity per dollar
• Low power consumption

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3.3 Limitations of Plastic Memory

Turning polymer memory into a commercial product is not an easy process. Memory technologies
compete not only on storage capacity but on speed, energy consumption, and reliability. The
difficulty is in meeting all the requirements of current silicon memory chips. Until the new memory
Space is able to compete with the high performance of silicon, their notes, they are likely to be
limited to niche applications. One likely use is in disposable electronics, where cost, rather than
performance, is the Researchers at Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories are working on polymer
memory devices for use in deciding factor Identification tags. The polymer memory made at Bell
Labs is still relatively slow by silicon standards, and anticipated capacity is only on the order of a
kilobit. But, says Bell Labs chemist Howard Katz, the flexible and low-cost polymer memory
devices could be very attractive• for, say, identification tags meant to be thrown away after a few
uses.

3.4 Application of Plastic Memory

1. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

A specific point application for low-cost organic devices is, the radio frequency identification tag
(RFID). These passive systems could be used on commercial products to assist in tracking,
inventory control, and theft prevention.

Fig. 3.1 Flexible memory used in RFID tags

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2. Medical Application
It can be used in tiny sensors which can work 24 hrs to track BP, heart rate, sugar level.

Fig. 3.2 Flexible memory used in medical monitoring systems

3. Electronic Map
The flexible nature of the memory is also a valuable attribute that cannot be gained by its silicon
counterparts. By combining with electro chromic displays, these memories could be used to make
electronic maps on paper or plastic substrates. Unlike GPS systems with expensive handheld
devices, these reel-to-reel maps could be folded put into a back pocket, and could be created at
such low cost via the reel-to-reel fabrication that they could be entirely disposable.

Fig. 3.3 Flexible memory used in electronic maps

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4. Defense Application
Think about soldiers in the field who have to carry heavy battery systems, or even civilian ‗road
warriors commuting to meetings. If we had a lighter weight system which operates itself at a lower
energy price, and if we could make it on a flexible polymer display, soldiers and other users could
just roll it up and carry it.

5. Other Application
Particular applications could include active wear with built-in mp3 players. It can also be used in
Digital camera for archiving images

CONCLUSION

Plastic memory is much lower and faster than the existing silicon a circuit was invented by
Researchers at Princeton Organization working with Hewlett-Packard. Plastic memory is a
combination of materials that could lower the cost and power the density of electronic memory. It
is an all-organic memory system with manifold advantages: in speed, production, energy
consumption, storage ability and cost. The memory cannot be rewritten, but can be read very fast
and with low power consumption. So, this would be perfect only for permanent storage. Plastic
memory uses spin of the electron rather than the charge of electron & RFID where conductivity
need is more. So, alternative polymer is to be used for fabrication. Plastic memory will be very
useful for future for storing data.

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Chapter 4

References

[1]. International symposium on Flexible Electronics Journal, Spain

[2]. Mark H. Kryder and Chang Soo Kim IEEE paper ―After Hard Drives— what comes next?

[3]. Shanker Das Sharma ―Spintronics

[4]. Paul Heremans ―Polymer/Organic memories‖

[5]. G. Hadziioannou, P. van Hutten ―Semiconducting Polymers‖

[6]. Just one word – plastics [organic semiconductors] , IEEE Spectrum, by S.Moore

[7]. New flexible magnetic plastic memory device by Amity Malware July 20, 2016.

[8]. A Survey of Software Techniques for Using Non-Volatile Memories for Storage Systems",

IEEE transactions on parallel and distributed systems

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