As the scale of graphene-based non-volatile memory is reduced, the ratio of access resistance R A to total channel resistance R TOT is increased. To investigate the effect of the R A on I–V characteristics, we fabricated devices with various access lengths L A and self-aligned structure. Proposed structure using self-aligned gate minimises L A, and thereby improves the drain current, ‘on/off’ current ratio I ON/I OFF and transfer characteristics. In proposed structure, ‘off’ current is increased from 0.16 to 0.28 mA because R TOT was reduced; ‘on’ current increased from 0.35 to 0.72 mA, but I ON/I OFF increased from 2.18 to 2.57. Proposed structure also had larger memory window (8.5 V) than did conventional devices (6.7 V).