Two-dimensional (2D) Van der Waals ferromagnets carry the promise of ultimately miniature spintronics and information storage devices. Among the newly discovered 2D ferromagnets all inherit the magnetic ordering from their bulk ancestors. Here we report a new 2D ferromagnetic semiconductor at room temperature, 2H phase vanadium diselenide (VSe2) which show ferromagnetic at 2D form only. This unique 2D ferromagnetic semiconductor manifests an enhanced magnetic ordering owing to structural anisotropy at 2D limit.
Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors hold enormous potential for modern optoelectronic devices and quantum computing applications. By inducing long-range ferromagnetism (FM) in these semiconductors through the introduction of small amounts of a magnetic dopant, it is possible to extend their potential in emerging spintronic applications. Here, we demonstrate light-mediated, room temperature (RT) FM, in V-doped WS2 (V-WS2) monolayers. We probe this effect using the principle of magnetic LC resonance, which employs a soft ferromagnetic Co-based microwire coil driven near its resonance in the radio frequency (RF) regime. The combination of LC resonance with an extraordinary giant magneto-impedance effect, renders the coil highly sensitive to changes in the magnetic flux through its core. We then place the V-WS2 monolayer at the core of the coil where it is excited with a laser while its change in magnetic permeability is measured. Notably, the magnetic permeability of the monolayer is found to depend on the laser intensity, thus confirming light control of RT magnetism in this two-dimensional (2D) material. Guided by density functional calculations, we attribute this phenomenon to the presence of excess holes in the conduction and valence bands, as well as carriers trapped in the magnetic doping states, which in turn mediates the magnetization of the V-WS2 monolayer. These findings provide a unique route to exploit light-controlled ferromagnetism in low powered 2D spintronic devices capable of operating at RT.
The outstanding optoelectronic and valleytronic properties of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have triggered intense research efforts by the scientific community. An alternative to induce long-range ferromagnetism (FM) in TMDs is by introducing magnetic dopants to form a dilute magnetic semiconductor. Enhancing ferromagnetism in these semiconductors not only represents a key step towards modern TMD-based spintronics, but also enables exploration of new and exciting dimensionality-driven magnetic phenomena. To this end, we show tunable ferromagnetism at room temperature and a thermally induced spin flip (TISF) in monolayers of V-doped WSe2. As vanadium concentrations increase within the WSe2 monolayers the saturation magnetization increases, and it is optimal at ~4at.% vanadium; the highest doping/alloying level ever achieved for V-doped WSe2 monolayers. The TISF occurs at ~175 K and becomes more pronounced upon increasing the temperature towards room temperature. We demonstrate that TISF can be manipulated by changing the vanadium concentration within the WSe2 monolayers. We attribute TISF to the magnetic field and temperature dependent flipping of the nearest W-site magnetic moments that are antiferromagnetically coupled to the V magnetic moments in the ground state. This is fully supported by a recent spin-polarized density functional theory calculation. Our findings pave the way for the development of novel spintronic and valleytronic nanodevices based on atomically thin magnetic semiconductors and stimulate further studies in this rapidly expanding research field of 2D magnetism.
Platinum diselenide (PtSe${_2}$) is a two-dimensional (2D) material with outstanding electronic and piezoresistive properties. The material can be grown at low temperatures in a scalable manner which makes it extremely appealing for many potential electronics, photonics, and sensing applications. Here, we investigate the nanocrystalline structure of different PtSe${_2}$ thin films grown by thermally assisted conversion (TAC) and correlate them with their electronic and piezoresistive properties. We use scanning transmission electron microscopy for structural analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for chemical analysis, and Raman spectroscopy for phase identification. Electronic devices are fabricated using transferred PtSe${_2}$ films for electrical characterization and piezoresistive gauge factor measurements. The variations of crystallite size and their orientations are found to have a strong correlation with the electronic and piezoresistive properties of the films, especially the sheet resistivity and the effective charge carrier mobility. Our findings may pave the way for tuning and optimizing the properties of TAC-grown PtSe${_2}$ towards numerous applications.
Diluted magnetic semiconductors including Mn-doped GaAs are attractive for gate-controlled spintronics but Curie transition at room temperature with long-range ferromagnetic order is still debatable to date. Here, we report the room-temperature ferromagnetic domains with long-range order in semiconducting V-doped WSe2 monolayer synthesized by chemical vapor deposition. Ferromagnetic order is manifested using magnetic force microscopy up to 360K, while retaining high on/off current ratio of ~105 at 0.1% V-doping concentration. The V-substitution to W sites keep a V-V separation distance of 5 nm without V-V aggregation, scrutinized by high-resolution scanning transmission-electron microscopy, which implies the possibility of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida interaction (or Zener model) by establishing the long-range ferromagnetic order in V-doped WSe2 monolayer through free hole carriers. More importantly, the ferromagnetic order is clearly modulated by applying a back gate. Our findings open new opportunities for using two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides for future spintronics.
One primary concern in diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) is how to establish a long-range magnetic order with a low magnetic doping concentration to maintain the gate tunability of the host semiconductor, as well as to increase Curie temperature. Two-dimensional van der Waals semiconductors have been recently investigated to demonstrate the magnetic order in DMSs; however, a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism responsible for the gate-tunable long-range magnetic order in DMSs has not been achieved yet. Here, we introduce a monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe2) semiconductor with V dopants to demonstrate the long-range magnetic order through itinerant spin-polarized holes. The V atoms are sparsely located in the host lattice by substituting W atoms, which is confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The V impurity states and the valence band edge states are overlapped, which is congruent with density functional theory calculations. The field-effect transistor characteristics reveal the itinerant holes within the hybridized band; this clearly resembles the Zener model. Our study gives an insight into the mechanism of the long-range magnetic order in V-doped WSe2, which can also be used for other magnetically doped semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides.