Current-induced switching of a van der Waals ferromagnet at room temperature

Abstract

Recent discovery of emergent magnetism in van der Waals magnetic materials (vdWMM) has broadened the material space for developing spintronic devices for energy-efficient computation. While there has been appreciable progress in vdWMM discovery, a solution for non-volatile, deterministic switching of vdWMMs at room temperature has been missing, limiting the prospects of their adoption into commercial spintronic devices. Here, we report the first demonstration of current-controlled non-volatile, deterministic magnetization switching in a vdW magnetic material at room temperature. We have achieved spin-orbit torque (SOT) switching of the PMA vdW ferromagnet Fe3GaTe2 using a Pt spin-Hall layer up to 320 K, with a threshold switching current density as low as Jsw=1.69 × 106 A cm−2 at room temperature. We have also quantitatively estimated the anti-damping-like SOT efficiency of our Fe3GaTe2/Pt bilayer system to be ξDL=0.093, using the second harmonic Hall voltage measurement technique. These results mark a crucial step in making vdW magnetic materials a viable choice for the development of scalable, energy-efficient spintronic devices.