Electric Field Effect in Multilayer Cr2Ge2Te6: a Ferromagnetic Two-Dimensional Material

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of ferromagnetic Cr2Ge2Te6 flakes and demonstrates their resistance can be significantly modulated by electric fields, highlighting their potential for future nanoelectronic and spintronic devices.

Contribution

It identifies ferromagnetic 2D Cr2Ge2Te6 flakes and shows their resistance can be controlled by electric fields, introducing a new functional 2D ferromagnetic material.

Findings

Ferromagnetic Cr2Ge2Te6 flakes down to a few nanometers were identified.

Giant modulation of channel resistance via electric field effect was demonstrated.

Potential applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics were discussed.

Abstract

The emergence of two-dimensional (2D) materials has attracted a great deal of attention due to their fascinating physical properties and potential applications for future nanoelectronic devices. Since the first isolation of graphene, a Dirac material, a large family of new functional 2D materials have been discovered and characterized, including insulating 2D boron nitride, semiconducting 2D transition metal dichalcogenides and black phosphorus, and superconducting 2D bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide, molybdenum disulphide and niobium selenide, etc. Here, we report the identification of ferromagnetic thin flakes of Cr2Ge2Te6 (CGT) with thickness down to a few nanometers, which provides a very important piece to the van der Waals structures consisting of various 2D materials. We further demonstrate the giant modulation of the channel resistance of 2D CGT devices via electric field effect. Our results illustrate the gate voltage tunability of 2D CGT and the potential of CGT, a ferromagnetic 2D material, as a new functional quantum material for applications in future nanoelectronics and spintronics.