Magnetically Modulated Electrical Switching in an Antiferromagnetic Transistor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel antiferromagnetic transistor using CrSBr, where magnetic states and electric fields jointly control electrical switching, achieving high magnetoresistance and promising applications in energy-efficient spintronics.

Contribution

It introduces a new transistor design utilizing van der Waals antiferromagnetic material CrSBr, combining magnetic and electric control for improved performance.

Findings

Achieved a magnetoresistance ratio of up to 1500%.

Demonstrated magnetic and electric field control of transistor ON/OFF states.

Revealed magnetically modulated carrier concentration as the switching mechanism.

Abstract

A spin version of transistor, where magnetism is used to influence electrical behaviors of the semiconductor, has been a long-pursued device concept in spintronics. In this work, we experimentally study a field-effect transistor with CrSBr, a van der Waals (vdW) antiferromagnetic semiconductor, as the channel material. Unlike the weak magnetic tunability of in-plane currents previously reported in vdW magnets, the channel current of our transistor is efficiently tuned by both gate voltage and magnetic transitions, achieving a magnetoresistance ratio as high as 1500%. Combining measurement and theoretical modeling, we reveal magnetically modulated carrier concentration as the origin of the large magnetoresistance. The strategy of using both magnetic ordering and electric field in the same device to control ON/OFF states of a transistor opens a new avenue of energy-efficient spintronics for memory, logic and magnetic sensing applications.