Abstract The continued scaling of flash memory technologies faces challenges such as limited operation speed, poor data retention, and interface defects inherent to conventional three-dimensional architectures. Two-dimensional (2D) materials, with van der Waals interfaces and atomic-scale thickness, offer a promising pathway to overcome these limitations by enabling efficient charge modulation while minimizing surface defects. In this work, a nonvolatile 2D flash memory device is developed employing monolayer Janus MoSSe as the charge-trapping layer and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as an ultrathin tunneling barrier. The intrinsic structural asymmetry of Janus MoSSe induces a strong vertical dipole moment, resulting in enhanced charge trapping, deeper energy barriers, and directional polarization compared with symmetric 2D materials. Consequently, the devices exhibit outstanding retention times exceeding 10 4 s, endurance beyond 10 4 program/erase cycles, and large memory window ratios (Δ V / V G,max of 50%–70% for 10 and 6 nm h-BN, respectively), with charge-trapping rates up to 8.96 × 10 14 cm −2 s −1 . In addition, Janus MoSSe-based devices show synaptic characteristics under electrical pulses and perform recognition simulations in artificial neural networks. These findings establish a design paradigm for 2D memory devices, enabling ultrathin, flexible, and energy-efficient nonvolatile memories.
Ko et al. (2026) studied this question.