Phonon and Thermal Properties of Quasi-Two-Dimensional FePS₃ and MnPS₃ Antiferromagnetic Semiconductors

Abstract

We report results of investigation of the phonon and thermal properties of the exfoliated films of layered single crystals of antiferromagnetic FePS 3 and MnPS 3 semiconductors. Raman spectroscopy was conducted using three different excitation lasers with wavelengths of 325 nm (UV), 488 nm (blue), and 633 nm (red). UV−Raman spectroscopy reveals spectral features which are not detectable via visible Raman light scattering. The thermal conductivity of FePS 3 and MnPS 3 thin films was measured by two different techniques: the steadystate Raman optothermal and transient time-resolved magnetooptical Kerr effect. The Raman optothermal measurements provided the orientation-average thermal conductivity of FePS 3 to be 1.35 ± 0.32 W m −1 K −1 at room temperature. The transient measurements revealed that the through-plane and in-plane thermal conductivity of FePS 3 are 0.85 ± 0.15 and 2.7 ± 0.3 W m −1 K −1 , respectively. The films of MnPS 3 have higher thermal conductivity of 1.1 ± 0.2 W m −1 K −1 through-plane and 6.3 ± 1.7 W m −1 K −1 in-plane. The data obtained by the two techniques are in agreement and reveal strong thermal anisotropy of the films and the dominance of phonon contribution to heat conduction. The obtained results are important for the interpretation of electric switching experiments with antiferromagnetic materials as well as for the proposed applications of the antiferromagnetic semiconductors in spintronic devices.

Electrically switchable van der Waals magnon valves

“…MnPS 3 belongs to a class of layered antiferromagnetic insulators with chemical composition as XPS y ( X = Fe, Cr, Mn, Ni; y = 3, 4) 20 – 22 . It has an energy bandgap of ~3.0 eV for bulk crystals 23 with an easy axis mostly perpendicular to the sample plane 22 . Within each layer, the manganese atoms form a hexagonal structure and the localized spin of ~5.9 μ B on each manganese atom has antiferromagnetic exchange interaction with its nearest neighboring manganese atoms 22 , 24 , as shown in Fig.…”

Low‐Frequency Electronic Noise in Quasi‐2D van der Waals Antiferromagnetic Semiconductor FePS3—Signatures of Phase Transitions

“…The obtained Raman data are in line with the literature reports attesting to the quality of the crystals. [6,20,[53][54][55][56][57] The test structures were prepared by mechanically exfoliating bulk crystals onto a Si/SiO 2 substrate with the oxide thickness of 300 nm. The uniform and relatively thick layers (200-400 nm) of the exfoliated layers were chosen in order to compensate for the high resistivity of the material and increase the current level in the device channels.…”

Density Functional Theory Calculations for the Evaluation of FePS3 as a Promising Anode for Mg Ion Batteries

“…Many theoretical calculations have verified that layered materials, such as arsenene [27], MnSb 2 S 4 [28], MXene [29], phosphorene [8], WS 2 [30], and C 3 N 4 [31], can be promising anode materials for MIBs. Furthermore, 2D layered transition metal phosphorous trichalcogenides (MPX 3 , where M = Mn, Fe, Ni, etc., and X = S, Se) have been widely explored because of their interesting physicochemical features, including electronic, magnetic, and superconductive properties [32,33]. Hitherto, materials from the MPX 3 family serve as good candidates for LIBs because of their reversible lithium storage capacity and fast lithium ion/electron conduction [34][35][36].…”