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Electrical switching in a magnetically intercalated transition metal dichalcogenide

Nature Materials volume 19, pages 153–157 (2020)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 23 July 2020

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 13 November 2019

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Abstract

Advances in controlling the correlated behaviour of transition metal dichalcogenides have opened a new frontier of many-body physics in two dimensions. A field where these materials have yet to make a deep impact is antiferromagnetic spintronics—a relatively new research direction promising technologies with fast switching times, insensitivity to magnetic perturbations and reduced cross-talk1,2,3. Here, we present measurements on the intercalated transition metal dichalcogenide Fe1/3NbS2 that exhibits antiferromagnetic ordering below 42 K (refs. 4,5). We find that remarkably low current densities of the order of 104 A cm−2 can reorient the magnetic order, which can be detected through changes in the sample resistance, demonstrating its use as an electronically accessible antiferromagnetic switch. Fe1/3NbS2 is part of a larger family of magnetically intercalated transition metal dichalcogenides, some of which may exhibit switching at room temperature, forming a platform from which to build tuneable antiferromagnetic spintronic devices6,7.

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Fig. 1: Electrical switching of Fe1/3NbS2.
Fig. 2: Temperature and field dependence.
Fig. 3: Geometry dependence of the switching and correlation to AMR.
Fig. 4: Dependence on current density and duration.

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Data availability

The datasets generated by the present study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported as part of the Center for Novel Pathways to Quantum Coherence in Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences. J.G.A. and N.L.N. received support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative (grant no. GBMF4374). J.O. received support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative (grant no. GBMF4537). FIB device fabrication was performed at the National Center for Electron Microscopy at the Molecular Foundry. Work at the Molecular Foundry was supported by the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy (contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Nityan L. Nair, Eran Maniv.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Nityan L. Nair, Eran Maniv, Caolan John, Spencer Doyle, J. Orenstein & James G. Analytis

  2. Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Nityan L. Nair, Eran Maniv, Caolan John, Spencer Doyle, J. Orenstein & James G. Analytis

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  1. Nityan L. Nair
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Contributions

J.G.A. and E.M. conceptualized the experiment. S.D. and C.J. performed crystal synthesis and magnetization measurements. N.L.N. fabricated FIB microstructure devices. N.L.N. and E.M. conducted transport measurements. N.L.N., E.M., J.O. and J.G.A performed data analysis. N.L.N. wrote the manuscript with input from all coauthors.

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Correspondence to Nityan L. Nair, Eran Maniv or James G. Analytis.

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Competing interests

A patent has been filed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on behalf of J.G.A., E.M., N.L.N., C.J. and S.D. pertaining to the use of Fe1/3NbS2 and related intercalated TMD compounds in AFM spintronic devices as described in this manuscript under US Patent Application Ser. No. 62/878,438.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–11 and Supplementary Refs. 1–5

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Nair, N.L., Maniv, E., John, C. et al. Electrical switching in a magnetically intercalated transition metal dichalcogenide. Nat. Mater. 19, 153–157 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0518-x

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