Diverse electronic and magnetic properties of CrS2 enabling strain-controlled 2D lateral heterostructure spintronic devices

Abstract

Lateral heterostructures of two-dimensional (2D) materials, integrating different phases or materials into a single piece of nanosheet, have attracted intensive research interests for electronic devices. Extending the 2D lateral heterostructures to spintronics demands more diverse electromagnetic properties of 2D materials. In this paper, using density functional theory calculations, we survey all IV, V, and VI group transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and discover that CrS2 has the most diverse electronic and magnetic properties: antiferromagnetic (AFM) metallic 1T phase, non-magnetic (NM) semiconductor 2H phase, and ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductor 1T′ phase with a Curie temperature of ~1000 K. Interestingly, we find that a tensile or compressive strain can turn the 1T′ phase into a spin-up or spin-down half-metal. Such strain tunability can be attributed to the lattice deformation under tensile/compressive strain that selectively promotes the spin-up/spin-down VBM (valence band bottom) orbital interactions. The diverse electromagnetic properties and the strain tunability enable strain-controlled spintronic devices using a single piece of CrS2 nanosheet with improved energy efficiency. As a demo, a prototypical design of the spin-valve logic device is presented. It offers a promising solution to address the challenge of high energy consumption in miniaturized spintronic devices.

Anisotropy-induced phase transitions in an intrinsic half-Chern insulator Ni2I2

“…Since the topological properties of QAH materials can be identified with Chern numbers, 18 they are also called Chern insulators. [19][20][21][22][23][24] Meanwhile, magnetic 2D materials, including 2D half metals (HMs), [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] 2D half semiconductors (HSs), 29,[32][33][34][35][36] 2D half-valley materials, [37][38][39][40] etc., were also employed in the fields of condensed matter physics and materials science due to their promising nanoscale spintronic applications. 100% spin-polarized electronic current can be generated and detected in HMs and HSs, which are deemed to be ideal materials for the fabrication of spintronic devices.…”

N-Doped CrS2 Monolayer as a Highly-Efficient Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction: A Computational Study

“…As a representative of 2D TMDs, the chromium disulfide (CrS 2 ) monolayer was synthesized via the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method in 2019 [ 21 ]. Interestingly, due to its unique properties, the CrS 2 monolayer has wide applications in spintronic devices [ 36 , 37 ]. For example, Chen et al suggested that CrS 2 has the most diverse electronic and magnetic properties: antiferromagnetic (AFM) metallic, non-magnetic (NM) semiconductor, and ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductor with a Curie temperature of ~1000 K [ 36 ].…”

“…Interestingly, due to its unique properties, the CrS 2 monolayer has wide applications in spintronic devices [ 36 , 37 ]. For example, Chen et al suggested that CrS 2 has the most diverse electronic and magnetic properties: antiferromagnetic (AFM) metallic, non-magnetic (NM) semiconductor, and ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductor with a Curie temperature of ~1000 K [ 36 ]. Moreover, Zhang et al reported that the magnetic properties of CrC 2 monolayer can be effectively tuned by doping metal atoms [ 37 ].…”

Above-room Curie temperature and barrier-layer-dependent tunneling magnetoresistance in 1T-CrO2 monolayer based magnetic tunnel junctions

“…5,6 In addition, ferromagnetic transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), as a new type magnetic semiconductor monolayer, have been employed to construct heterostructures such as CrTe 2 |Gr( n ML)|CrTe 2 , 13 VTe 2 |Gr|VTe 2 , 14 1T-MoSe 2 |1T-VSe 2 |2H-WSe 2 |1T-VSe 2 |1T-MoSe 2 , 15 1T-MoS 2 |1T-VSe 2 |1H-MoS 2 |1T-VSe 2 |1T-MoS 2 16 and 1T′-CrS 2 |1T-CrS 2 /2H-CrS 2 |1T′-CrS 2 . 17 By increasing the thickness of the Gr barrier layers in 1T-CrTe 2 based MTJ, Zhou et al also noticed a tunable TMR effect. 13 Recently, Yang et al built a 2D ferromagnetic semiconductor CrPS 4 tunnel barrier with a large thickness range, and they predicted that the TMRs generally increase from 140% (3 layers) to a surprising 3.7 × 10 6 % (10 layers).…”