Robust ferromagnetism in wafer-scale Fe3GaTe2 above room-temperature
Shuxiang Wu, Zhihao He, Minghui Gu, Lizhu Ren, J.-G. Li, Bo Deng, Di Wang, Xinhao Guo, Wenbin Li, Mingyi Chen, Yijun Chen, Meng Meng, Quan‐Lin Ye, Bing Shen, Xinman Chen, Jiandong Guo, Guozhong Xing, I. K. Sou, Shuwei Li
Abstract
The discovery of ferromagnetism in van der Waals (vdW) materials has enriched the understanding of two-dimensional (2D) magnetic orders and opened new avenues for fundamental physics research and next generation spintronics. However, achieving ferromagnetic order at room temperature, along with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, remains a significant challenge. In this work, we report wafer-scale growth of vdW ferromagnet Fe3GaTe2 using molecular beam epitaxy. The epitaxial Fe3GaTe2 films exhibit robust ferromagnetism, exemplified by high Curie temperature (TC = 420 K) and large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) constant KU = 6.7 × 105 J/m3 at 300 K for nine-unit-cell film. Notably, the ferromagnetic order is preserved even in the one-unit-cell film with TC reaching 345 K, benefiting from the strong PMA (KU = 1.8×105 J/m3 at 300 K). In comparison to exfoliated Fe3GaTe2 flakes, our epitaxial films with the same thickness show the significant enhancement of TC, which could be ascribed to the tensile strain effect from the substrate. The successful realization of wafer-scale ferromagnetic Fe3GaTe2 films with TC far above room temperature represents a substantial advancement (in some aspects or some fields, e.g. material science), paving the way for the development of 2D magnet-based spintronic devices. While the list of van der Waals magnetic materials has expanded considerably over the last few years, these are still typically limited to low temperatures. Here, Wu et al report wafer scale growth, and robust room temperature ferromagnetism in Fe3GaTe2.