Abstract
We demonstrate anisotropic tunnel magnetoconductance by controllably engineering charging islands in the layered semiconducting ferromagnet . This is achieved by assembling vertical van der Waals heterostructures comprised of graphene electrodes separated by crystals of . Carefully applying vertical electric fields in the region of –50 mV/nm) across the causes its dielectric breakdown at cryogenic temperatures. This breakdown process has the effect of introducing subgap defect states within the otherwise semiconducting ferromagnetic material. Low-temperature electron transport through charging islands reveals Coulomb blockade behavior with a strongly gate-tuneable anisotropic magnetoconductance, which persists up to K. We report average tunnel magnetoresistance values of . This work opens new avenues and material systems for the development of nanometer-scale electrically controlled spintronic devices.
- Received 10 June 2019
- Revised 18 July 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.054420
©2019 American Physical Society