Doped polyaniline polymer fuses: Electrically programmable read-only-memory elements

We demonstrate polymeric electrically programmable read-only-memory elements based on camphorsulfonic-acid-doped polyaniline lines. Their working mechanism relies on irreversible reduction of the electrical conductivity by Joule heating like electrical safety fuses. The heating power is supplied electrically. The critical power required to "blow up" the fuse is strongly reduced by notches. The influence of the notch design can be predicted reasonably well using a simple thermal model. The critical power becomes less than 1 mW for fuses with notches narrower than 2 μm. This power can be delivered by organic transistors already at modest voltages, opening the way of integration of these memory elements in all-polymer circuits.