Two-bit memory devices based on single-wall carbon nanotubes: demonstration and mechanism

Two-bit memory devices of SWNTs, based on the hysteresis effect, have been demonstrated for the first time. The pertinent memory behaviours seem to originate from the capacitive effect due to polarization of molecules, especially the surface-bound water molecules on SiO2 in close proximity to carbon nanotubes. Our investigations are intimately linked with ultrahigh-density memory applications, and possibly go a long way in broadening the memory applications of SWNTs, for example from nonvolatile to volatile cells.