Nonvolatile Electric Control of Antiferromagnet CrSBr

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates nonvolatile electric control of antiferromagnetic properties in van der Waals CrSBr using a charge trapping device, enabling magnetic state manipulation without external magnetic fields for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for nonvolatile electric control of antiferromagnetism in CrSBr via charge trapping in a memory architecture, a previously unexplored approach.

Findings

200% change in antiferromagnetic resistance state

Modulation of metamagnetic transition field

Control of magnetoresistance magnitude

Abstract

van der Waals magnets are emerging as a promising material platform for electric field control of magnetism, offering a pathway towards the elimination of external magnetic fields from spintronic devices. A further step is the integration of such magnets with electrical gating components which would enable nonvolatile control of magnetic states. However, this approach remains unexplored for antiferromagnets, despite their growing significance in spintronics. Here, we demonstrate nonvolatile electric field control of magnetoelectric characteristics in van der Waals antiferromagnet CrSBr. We integrate a CrSBr channel in a flash-memory architecture featuring charge trapping graphene multilayers. The electrical gate operation triggers a nonvolatile 200 % change in the antiferromagnetic state of CrSBr resistance by manipulating electron accumulation/depletion. Moreover, the nonvolatile gate modulates the metamagnetic transition field of CrSBr and the magnitude of magnetoresistance. Our findings highlight the potential of manipulating magnetic properties of antiferromagnetic semiconductors in a nonvolatile way.