Electron transport and scattering mechanisms in ferromagnetic monolayer Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$

TL;DR

This study investigates the charge transport mechanisms in monolayer Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$, revealing electron-phonon interactions as the dominant scattering process and their temperature-dependent effects on resistivity.

Contribution

It provides a detailed first-principles analysis of electron-phonon and electron-magnon interactions, highlighting their roles in the transport properties of ferromagnetic monolayer Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$.

Findings

Electron-phonon interaction dominates charge scattering.

Magnetic excitations have a marginal role.

Resistivity shows sublinear temperature dependence near Curie temperature.

Abstract

We study intrinsic charge-carrier scattering mechanisms and determine their contribution to the transport properties of the two-dimensional ferromagnet Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$. We use state-of-the-art first-principles calculations combined with the model approaches to elucidate the role of the electron-phonon and electron-magnon interactions in the electronic transport. Our findings show that the charge carrier scattering in Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ is dominated by the electron-phonon interaction, while the role of magnetic excitations is marginal. At the same time, the magnetic ordering is shown to effect essentially on the electron-phonon coupling and its temperature dependence. This leads to a sublinear temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity near the Curie temperature, which is in line with experimental observations. The room temperature resistivity is estimated to be $\sim$35 $\mu \Omega \cdot$cm which may be considered as an intrinsic limit for monolayer Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$.