Robust magnetic proximity induced anomalous Hall effect in a room temperature van der Waals ferromagnetic semiconductor based 2D heterostructure

TL;DR

This study introduces a new room-temperature van der Waals ferromagnetic semiconductor, FCGS, demonstrating strong magnetic proximity effects and anomalous Hall effect in heterostructures with graphene, promising for high-temperature spintronic applications.

Contribution

The paper reports the discovery of a room-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor with high Curie temperature and demonstrates robust magnetic proximity effects in heterostructures with graphene.

Findings

Curie temperature of 370 K for FCGS

Robust anomalous Hall effect up to 400 K

High-quality FCGS/graphene heterostructure with smooth interface

Abstract

Developing novel high-temperature van der Waals ferromagnetic semiconductor materials and investigating their interface coupling effects with two-dimensional topological semimetals are pivotal for advancing next-generation spintronic and quantum devices. However, most van der Waals ferromagnetic semiconductors exhibit ferromagnetism only at low temperatures, limiting the proximity research on their interfaces with topological semimetals. Here, we report an intrinsic, van der Waals layered room-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor crystal, FeCr0.5Ga1.5Se4 (FCGS), with a Curie temperature as high as 370 K, setting a new record for van der Waals ferromagnetic semiconductors. The saturation magnetization at low temperature (2 K) and room temperature (300 K) reaches 8.2 emu/g and 2.7 emu/g, respectively. Furthermore, FCGS possesses a bandgap of approximately 1.2 eV, which is comparable to the widely used commercial silicon. The FCGS/graphene heterostructure exhibits an impeccably smooth and gapless interface, thereby inducing a robust magnetic proximity coupling effect between FCGS and graphene. After the proximity coupling, graphene undergoes a charge carrier transition from electrons to holes, accompanied by a transition from non-magnetic to ferromagnetic transport behavior with robust anomalous Hall effect. Notably, the anomalous Hall effect remains robust even temperatures up to 400 K.