Local electrical modification of a conductivity-switching polyimide film formed by molecular layer deposition

The electrical modification of a conductivity-switching polyimide film via molecular layer deposition (MLD) is studied for ultrahigh density data storage based on a scanning probe microscope (SPM). A PMDA-ODA (PMDA = 1, 2, 3, 5-benzenetetracarboxylic anhydride, ODA = 4, 4-oxydianiline) film as a recording medium is uniformly formed from a self-assembled monolayer on a Au surface by MLD. It is demonstrated that the conductivity of the film can be changed by applying a voltage between a SPM probe and the film. This conductivity-switching phenomenon is discussed by the molecular orbital approach and considered to be caused by the charge transfer effect or carrier trapping effect of PMDA-ODA.