Tunable room-temperature ferromagnetism in the SiC monolayer

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that Mn-doped and electron-doped SiC monolayers exhibit tunable ferromagnetism at or above room temperature, with strain and doping strategies enhancing magnetic properties for potential spintronic applications.

Contribution

The paper reveals that strain and doping can induce and control room-temperature ferromagnetism in SiC monolayers, a novel 2D material for spintronics.

Findings

Ferromagnetism mediated by electrons or holes in Mn-doped SiC.

Curie temperature can be increased above room temperature with strain.

Strain induces phase transition and half-metallicity in the material.

Abstract

It is essential to explore two-dimensional (2D) material with magnetic ordering in new generation spintronic devices. Particularly, the seeking of room-temperature 2D ferromagnetic (FM) materials is a hot topic of current research. Here, we study magnetism of the Mn-doped and electron-doped SiC monolayer using first-principle calculations. For the Mn-doped SiC monolayer, we find that either electron or hole could mediate the ferromagnetism in the system and the Curie temperature ($T_C$) can be improved by appropriate carrier doping. The codoping strategy is also discussed on improving $T_C$. The transition between antiferromagnetic and FM phase can be found by strain engineering. The $T_C$ is improved above room temperature (RT) under the strain larger than $0.06$. Moreover, the Mn-doped SiC monolayer develops half-metal at the strain range of $0.05-0.1$. On the other hand, the direct electron doping can induce ferromagnetism due to the van Hove singularity in density of states of the conduction band edge of the SiC monolayer. The $T_C$ is found to be around RT. These fascinating controllable electronic and magnetic properties are desired for spintronic applications.