Creating a memory device out of paper

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“What we have shown is that it is possible to store information on paper, electronically, for more than a year and a half.” Martins is part of a team that includes Pedro Barquinha, Luís Pereira, Nuno Carreia, Gonçalo Gonçalves, Isabel Ferreira and Elvira Fortunato. The group has demonstrated memory performance using a field-effect transistor built on paper. Their work is published in Applied Physics Letters: “Write-erase and read paper memory transistor.”

“What we are doing is exploiting the memory effect,” Martins explains. “We have a sort of type of integrated foam composed of fibers set up that increases the capability of storing carriers – or charges – in our paper.” These charges allow the paper to display information that is also erasable – and the paper is rewritable so that additional information can be added.

One of the attractive features of this memory paper is that it is produced at room temperature, meaning that it does not need special conditions for its manufacture. To create the paper, long fibers from pine and polyester were mixed together and put into an ionic resin matrix. The fibers were then coated with gallium indium zinc oxide, using magnetron sputtering. “We have integrated discrete fibers, and contacts are applied on the extremes of the channel region to allow the induced carriers to move,” Martins says. “Electrons move along the fibers.”

“What we have shown is that it is possible to store information on paper, electronically, for more than a year and a half.” Martins is part of a team that includes Pedro Barquinha, Luís Pereira, Nuno Carreia, Gonçalo Gonçalves, Isabel Ferreira and Elvira Fortunato. The group has demonstrated memory performance using a field-effect transistor built on paper. Their work is published in Applied Physics Letters: “Write-erase and read paper memory transistor.”

“What we are doing is exploiting the memory effect,” Martins explains. “We have a sort of type of integrated foam composed of fibers set up that increases the capability of storing carriers – or charges – in our paper.” These charges allow the paper to display information that is also erasable – and the paper is rewritable so that additional information can be added.

One of the attractive features of this memory paper is that it is produced at room temperature, meaning that it does not need special conditions for its manufacture. To create the paper, long fibers from pine and polyester were mixed together and put into an ionic resin matrix. The fibers were then coated with gallium indium zinc oxide, using magnetron sputtering. “We have integrated discrete fibers, and contacts are applied on the extremes of the channel region to allow the induced carriers to move,” Martins says. “Electrons move along the fibers.”

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http://www.physorg.com/news146905642.html