Gold nanoparticle charge trapping and relation to organic polymer memory devices

Nanoparticle-based polymer memory devices (PMDs) are a promising technology that could replace conventional silicon-based electronic memory, offering fast operating speeds, simple device structures and low costs. Here we report on the current state of nanoparticle PMDs and review some of the problems that are still present in the field. We also present new data regarding the charging of gold nanoparticles in metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors, showing that charging is possible under the application of an electric field with a trapped charge density due to the nanoparticles of 3.3 x 10(12) cm(-2).