The search for new materials to fabricate electronic devices mainly targets composites of metals, metal oxides, organic molecules, and polymers. We demonstrate here the fabrication and operation of a multilevel-per-bit metallo-organic memory cell (MOMC). This conceptually new memory cell has dual functionality. Information can be written and stored electrochemically and read out both electrochemically and optically. An electrochemical readout will reset the device to its ground state (read-while-write), whereas an optical readout can be continuous. The use of a nanoscale trilayer of electrochromically active ruthenium, iron, and osmium polypyridyl complexes resulted in up to four distinct states that can be addressed by applying different potentials. The information stored in the MOMC was used as input to an integrated circuit (IC), and it was visualized using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These findings show the potential of metallo-organic materials to design hybrid ICs.

寻找制造电子设备的新材料主要针对金属、金属氧化物、有机分子和聚合物的复合材料。我们在这里演示了多级每位金属有机存储单元（MOMC）的制造和操作。这种概念上新的存储单元具有双重功能。信息可以通过电化学方式写入和存储，并可以通过电化学和光学方式读出。电化学读出会将设备重置到基态（边写边读），而光学读出可以是连续的。使用纳米级三层电致变色活性钌、铁和锇聚吡啶复合物产生了多达四种不同的状态，可以通过施加不同的电势来解决这些状态。 MOMC 中存储的信息被用作集成电路 (IC) 的输入，并使用发光二极管 (LED) 进行可视化。这些发现显示了金属有机材料设计混合集成电路的潜力。