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Phase engineering of Cr5Te8 with colossal anomalous Hall effect

Nature Electronics volume 5, pages 224–232 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Two-dimensional materials that are intrinsically ferromagnetic are crucial for the development of compact spintronic devices. However, most non-layered 2D magnets with a strong ferromagnetic order are difficult to synthesize. Here we show that the flakes of trigonal and monoclinic Cr5Te8 can be grown via a chemical vapour deposition method. Using magneto-optical and magnetotransport measurements, we show that both phases exhibit robust ferromagnetism with strong perpendicular anisotropy at thicknesses of a few nanometres. A high Curie temperature of up to 200 K can be obtained by manipulating the phase structure and thickness. We also observe a colossal anomalous Hall effect in the more structurally distorted monoclinic Cr5Te8, with an anomalous Hall conductivity of 650 Ω−1 cm−1 and anomalous Hall angle of 5%.

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Fig. 1: Synthesis and characterizations of 2D tr-Cr5Te8 and m-Cr5Te8.
Fig. 2: Atomic morphology of tr-Cr5Te8 and m-Cr5Te8 crystals.
Fig. 3: Magnetotransport measurement of 2D Cr5Te8.
Fig. 4: AHE of 2D Cr5Te8 and other metallic ferromagnets.
Fig. 5: Atomic structures and magnetism of Cr5Te8.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The code for calculating the Stoner parameter and spin ordering is available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Z.L. acknowledges support from the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF-CRP22-2019-0007 and NRF-CRP21-2018-0007). This research is also supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its AcRF Tier 3 Programme ‘Geometrical Quantum Materials’ (MOE2018-T3-1-002), and AcRF Tier 1 RG161/19. W.G. acknowledges support from the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF-CRP22-2019-0004). J.L. acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 11974156); Guangdong International Science Collaboration Project (grant no. 2019A050510001); Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (grant no. 2019ZT08C044); Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (no. KQTD20190929173815000 and 20200925161102001); the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (no. ZDSYS20190902092905285); and assistance of SUSTech Core Research Facilities, especially technical support from the Pico-Centre that receives support from the Presidential fund and Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen Municipality. J.Z. acknowledges support from the Beijing Institute of Technology (grant no. 2021CX11013) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 62174013). The authors are grateful for the technical support from Nano-X of Suzhou Institute of Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Science (SINANO).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Bijun Tang, Xiaowei Wang, Mengjiao Han, Xiaodong Xu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Bijun Tang, Xiaowei Wang, Chao Zhu, Xun Cao, Qundong Fu & Zheng Liu

  2. Department of Physics and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Advanced Quantum Functional Materials and Devices, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

    Mengjiao Han & Junhao Lin

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaodong Xu, Jianqun Yang & Xingji Li

  4. Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Zhaowei Zhang & Weibo Gao

  5. Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Energy Efficient and Custom AI IC, School of Information Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Yumeng Yang

  6. Centre for Quantum Physics, Key Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Quantum Architecture and Measurement (MOE), School of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jiadong Zhou

  7. CINTRA CNRS/NTU/THALES, UMI 3288, Research Techno Plaza, Singapore, Singapore

    Zheng Liu

  8. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Zheng Liu

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Contributions

B.T., X.W., M.H. and X.X. contributed equally to this work. Z.L., J.L. and J.Z. conceived and supervised the project. B.T. synthesized the sample and conducted the AFM, XPS, SEM-EDS and Raman characterizations. X.W. fabricated the devices and carried out the transport measurements and AHE data analysis. M.H., C.Z. and J.L. performed the STEM measurement and data analysis. Z.Z. and W.G. conducted the RMCD measurements and data analysis. X.C. assisted with the focused ion beam lithography. X.X., J.Y. and X.L. performed the first-principles calculations. B.T., M.H., Z.Z. and X.X. co-wrote the manuscript. X.W., Y.Y., Q.F., J.Z., J.L. and Z.L. discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xingji Li, Jiadong Zhou, Junhao Lin or Zheng Liu.

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Tang, B., Wang, X., Han, M. et al. Phase engineering of Cr5Te8 with colossal anomalous Hall effect. Nat Electron 5, 224–232 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-022-00754-6

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