Room temperature energy-efficient spin-orbit torque switching in two-dimensional van der Waals Fe₃GeTe₂ induced by topological insulators

Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic materials with unique magnetic properties have great potential for next-generation spintronic devices with high flexibility, easy controllability, and high heretointegrability. However, realizing magnetic switching with low power consumption at room temperature is challenging. Here, we demonstrate the room-temperature spin-orbit torque (SOT) driven magnetization switching in an all-van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure using an optimized epitaxial growth approach. The topological insulator Bi2Te3 not only raises the Curie temperature of Fe3GeTe2 (FGT) through interfacial exchange coupling but also works as a spin current source allowing the FGT to switch at a low current density of ~2.2×10^5 A/cm^2. The SOT efficiency is ~2.69, measured at room temperature. The temperature and thickness-dependent SOT efficiency prove that the larger SOT in our system mainly originates from the nontrivial topological origin of the heterostructure. Our experiments enable an all-vdW SOT structure and provides a solid foundation for the implementation of room-temperature all-vdW spintronic devices in the future.

Haiyu Wang, Hao Wu, Jie Zhang, Yingjie Liu, Dongdong Chen, Chandan Pandey, Jialiang Yin, Dahai Wei, Na Lei, Shuyuan Shi, Haichang Lu, Peng Li, Albert Fert, Kang L. Wang, Tianxiao Nie, Weisheng Zhao