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Giant tunneling magnetoresistance in spin-filter van der Waals heterostructures

Journal Article · · Science
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [3];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (China)
  3. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
  4. National Institute for Materials Science, Ibaraki (Japan)
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Magnetic multilayer devices that exploit magnetoresistance are the backbone of magnetic sensing and data storage technologies. Here, we report multiple-spin-filter magnetic tunnel junctions (sf-MTJs) based on van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures in which atomically thin chromium triiodide (CrI3) acts as a spin-filter tunnel barrier sandwiched between graphene contacts. We demonstrate tunneling magnetoresistance which is drastically enhanced with increasing CrI3 layer thickness, reaching a record 19,000% for magnetic multilayer structures using four-layer sf-MTJs at low temperatures. Using magnetic circular dichroism measurements, we attribute these effects to the intrinsic layer-by-layer antiferromagnetic ordering of the atomically thin CrI3. In conclusion, our work reveals the possibility to push magnetic information storage to the atomically thin limit and highlights CrI3 as a superlative magnetic tunnel barrier for vdW heterostructure spintronic devices.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1439141
Journal Information:
Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 6394 Vol. 360; ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Two‐Dimensional Magnets: Forgotten History and Recent Progress towards Spintronic Applications journal May 2019
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Lattice Dynamics, Phonon Chirality, and Spin–Phonon Coupling in 2D Itinerant Ferromagnet Fe 3 GeTe 2 journal September 2019
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Intrinsic Van Der Waals Magnetic Materials from Bulk to the 2D Limit: New Frontiers of Spintronics journal May 2019
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