# Interface-to-Surface Transition Induced Topological Hall Effect in 2-Dimensional SrRuO3 Integrated on Silicon

## TL;DR

Researchers discovered a way to induce a topological Hall effect in SrRuO3 by altering its surface structure, which could lead to more efficient spintronic devices.

## Contribution

A novel structural-symmetry-breaking strategy to induce a robust topological Hall effect in SrRuO3 membranes.

## Key findings

- Freestanding SrRuO3 membranes exhibit a pronounced topological Hall effect up to 100 K.
- Disrupting the Ru–O termination at the interface leads to asymmetric surface terminations and enhanced DMI.
- The method preserves high crystallinity and electronic coherence in the material.

## Abstract

The topological Hall effect (THE), a transport signature emerging from chiral spin textures induced by structural symmetry breaking and the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI), represents a rich frontier in condensed matter physics with promising applications in spintronic devices. To enhance the DMI and thereby induce THE in SrRuO3 (SRO), we introduce a structural-symmetry-breaking strategy that disrupts the Ru–O termination at the rigid substrate interface. This disruption triggers a transition from a rigid epitaxial interface to a freestanding membrane with unsaturated surface bonds, resulting in asymmetric surface terminations (Sr–O on top and Ru–O at the bottom). Unlike its rigid counterpart, which shows no detectable THE, the freestanding SRO exhibits a pronounced THE signal, persisting up to 100 K while preserving high crystallinity and electronic coherence. The ability to generate robust THE in transferable oxide membranes has direct implications for next-generation spintronics, offering compelling prospects for creating low-power magnetic memory and logic devices based on chiral spin textures.