Room temperature energy-efficient spin-orbit torque switching in two-dimensional van der Waals Fe3GeTe2 induced by topological insulators

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 5173
• Main Authors: Wang, Haiyu, Wu, Hao, Zhang, Jie, Liu, Yingjie, Chen, Dongdong, Pandey, Chandan, Yin, Jialiang, Wei, Dahai, Lei, Na, Shi, Shuyuan, Lu, Haichang, Li, Peng, Fert, Albert, Wang, Kang L., Nie, Tianxiao, Zhao, Weisheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.08.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/119/1001; 639/301/119/2792/4128; 639/301/357/1018; 639/301/357/997; Bismuth tellurides; Curie temperature; Current sources; Electrons; Energy efficiency; Epitaxial growth; Ferromagnetic materials; Heterostructures; Humanities and Social Sciences; Low currents; Magnetic properties; Magnetic switching; multidisciplinary; Power consumption; Random access memory; Room temperature; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spintronics; Temperature dependence; Topological insulators; Torque
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40714-y

Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic materials with unique magnetic properties have great potential for next-generation spintronic devices with high flexibility, easy controllability, and high heretointegrability. However, realizing magnetic switching with low power consumption at room temperature is challenging. Here, we demonstrate the room-temperature spin-orbit torque (SOT) driven magnetization switching in an all-van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure using an optimized epitaxial growth approach. The topological insulator Bi 2 Te 3 not only raises the Curie temperature of Fe 3 GeTe 2 (FGT) through interfacial exchange coupling but also works as a spin current source allowing the FGT to switch at a low current density of ~2.2×10 6 A/cm 2 . The SOT efficiency is ~2.69, measured at room temperature. The temperature and thickness-dependent SOT efficiency prove that the larger SOT in our system mainly originates from the nontrivial topological origin of the heterostructure. Our experiments enable an all-vdW SOT structure and provides a solid foundation for the implementation of room-temperature all-vdW spintronic devices in the future. Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) exhibits remarkable device endurance, while also offering potential operation speed and energy efficiency improvements compared to conventional random access memory. However, challenges remain, both in terms of efficiency, and miniaturization. Here, Wang et al demonstrate a van der Waals (vdW) based spin-orbit torque switching, in a Fe 3 GeTe 2 /Bi2Te 3 heterostructure, paving the way for thinner and higher efficiency spin-orbit torque based vdW MRAM.