# US 2014/0197369 A1 · Nanoparticle-based memristor structure

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- Number: US 2014/0197369 A1
- Document ID: US20140197369A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/742,939
- Filed: 2013-01-16
- Published: 2014-07-17
- Earliest claimed: 2013-01-16
- Assignees: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
- Applicants: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
- Inventors: Xia Sheng; Zhang-Lin Zhou; Richard H. Henze
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140197369A1

## CPC

- H10N 70/021: {Formation of switching materials, e.g. deposition of layers}
- H10N 70/24: {based on migration or redistribution of ionic species, e.g. anions, vacancies}
- H10N 70/826: {adapted for essentially vertical current flow, e.g. sandwich or pillar type devices}
- H10N 70/828: {Current flow limiting means within the switching material region, e.g. constrictions}
- H10N 70/8833: {Binary metal oxides, e.g. TaOx}
- B82Y 10/00: Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
- Y10S 977/83: Inorganic core or cluster coated with organic or biological shell
- H10N: ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B82Y: SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

A memristor structure has two electrodes sandwiching an insulating region, and includes a nanoparticle providing a conducting path between the two electrodes, wherein either the insulating region comprises an inorganic material and nanoparticle comprises a solid nanoparticle or a core/shell nanoparticle or the insulating region comprises an inorganic or organic material and the nanoparticle comprises a core/shell nanoparticle.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A memristor structure comprising two electrodes sandwiching an insulating region, and including a nanoparticle providing a conducting path between the two electrodes,
wherein
the insulating region comprises an inorganic or organic material and the nanoparticle comprises a core/shell nanoparticle.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The memristors of claim 1 wherein the two electrodes are independently selected from the group consisting of aluminum, copper, platinum, tungsten, gold, titanium, silver, ruthenium dioxide, titanium nitride, tungsten nitride, tantalum, and tantalum nitride.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The memristors of claim 1 wherein the insulating region comprises an oxide.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The memristors of claim 3 wherein the insulating region comprises an oxide selected from the group consisting of tantalum oxide, titanium oxide, yttrium oxide, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, calcium oxide, and magnesium oxide, dysprosium oxide, lanthanum oxide, and silicon dioxide.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The memristors of claim 1 wherein the nanoparticle is adjacent or touching one or the other of the two electrodes.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The memristors of claim 5 wherein the insulating region has a thickness that ranges from a diameter of the nanoparticle to up to 10 nm thicker than the diameter of the nanoparticle.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The memristors of claim 6 wherein the nanoparticle has a diameter within a range of about 1 to 50 nm.

### Claim 8

(canceled)

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The memristors of claim 1 wherein the core comprises metal or metal sub-oxide, sub-nitride or sub-carbide that conducts electrons, ions or vacancies and the shell comprises an insulating oxide, suboxide, nitride or carbide that is comparatively lower in conductivity.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The memristors of claim 1 wherein the core/shell structure further includes ligands attached to the shell.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The memristors of claim 10 wherein the ligands are either hydrophilic or hydrophobic.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The memristors of claim 11 wherein the ligands are hydrophilic and are selected from the group consisting of polyethyleneglycol (PEG), polyamines, sulfonates and carboxylates of trichlorosilane and trialkoxysilane, thiols, carboxylic acids, and amines.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The memristors of claim 11 wherein the ligands are hydrophobic and are selected from the group consisting of long chain alkylamines, long chain alkyltrichlorosilanes, long chain alkyltrimethoysilanes, long chain alkyltriethoxysilanes, long chain alkylthiols and long chain alkylcarboxylic acids such as octanamine, nonanamine, decaneamine, undecaneamine, dodecanamine, tridecanamine, tetradecanamine, hexadecaneamine, and eicosanamine.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The memristors of claim 1 wherein the nanoparticle has a diameter within a range of about 2 to 100 nm.

### Claim 15

A method for making memristors that comprise a bottom electrode and a top electrode sandwiching an insulating region, and including a nanoparticle providing a conducting path between the bottom electrode and the top electrode, the insulating region comprising an inorganic or organic material and the nanoparticle comprising a core/shell nanoparticle, the method including:
providing the bottom electrode;
forming the nanoparticle on the bottom electrode by a self-assembly process;
depositing a layer of insulating material to form the insulating region; and
forming the top electrode on the insulating region.

### Claim 16

(canceled)

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15 wherein the nanoparticle is deposited on the bottom electrode together with the layer of insulating material.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17 wherein the nanoparticle and insulating material are deposited from a colloid comprising the nanoparticle and the insulating material dispersed in a solvent.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18 wherein the solvent is selected from the group consisting of water, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, butanol, hexafluoroisopropanol, toluene, MIBK, chlorobenzene, chloroform, and xylenes and mixtures thereof.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15 wherein the layer of insulating material is deposited after forming the nanoparticle on the bottom electrode.