Researchers are developing flash memory devices that store the charge in nanocrystals instead of the usually used polysilicon layers. These kinds of devices are less sensitive to local defects and offer high-density memory potential.
Researchers from Samsung Electronics (and Korea's Kyung Hee University) are now developing similar flash devices based on graphene quantum dots (GQDs). The performance of such a device is promising, with an electron density that is comparable to semiconductor and metal nanocrystal based memories. Those flash memory can also be made flexible and transparent.
The researchers used GQDs in three different sizes (6, 12, and 27 nm) between silicon dioxide layers. The memory of the QDs depend on their sizes: the 12 nm dot for example offers the highest program speed while the 27 nm dot has the highest erase speed, and is also the most stable. Samsung says that this is the first GQD demonstration in a practical device.