Realization of the electric-field driven "one-material"-based magnetic tunnel junction using van der Waals antiferromagnetic MnPX3 (X: S, Se)

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel electric-field controlled magnetic tunnel junction using layered van der Waals MnPX3 materials, enabling precise conductivity control without interface issues, advancing 2D spintronics technology.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach for creating 'one-material' magnetic tunnel junctions with electric-field tunability using MnPX3 layers, avoiding interface-related problems.

Findings

Electric field induces half-metallic ferromagnetic states in MnPX3 layers.

The junction's tunneling conductivity can be precisely controlled.

The approach reduces parasitic effects from lattice mismatches and interfaces.

Abstract

Presently a lot of efforts are devoted to the investigation of new two-dimensional magnetic materials, which are considered as promising for the realization of the future electronics and spintronics devices. However, the utilization of these materials in different junctions requires complicated processing that in many cases leads to unwanted parasitic effects influencing the performance of the junctions. Here, we propose the new elegant approach for the realization of the "one-material"-based magnetic tunnel junction. The several layers of 2D van der Waals MnPX3 (X: S, Se), which is insulating antiferromagnet in its ground state, are used and the effect of the applied external electric filed leads to the half-metallic ferromagnetic states for the outermost layers of the MnPX3 stack. The rich states diagram of such magnetic tunnel junction permits to precisely control its tunneling conductivity. The realized "one-material"-based magnetic tunnel junction allows to avoid all effects connected with the lattice mismatches and carriers scattering effects at the materials interfaces, giving high perspectives for the application of such systems in electronics and spintronics.