Facile integration of giant exchange bias in Fe5GeTe2/oxide heterostructures by atomic layer deposition

Jierui Liang, Shanchuan Liang, Ti Xie, Andrew F. May, Thomas Ersevim, Qinqin Wang, Hyobin Ahn, Changgu Lee, Xixiang Zhang, Jian-Ping Wang, Michael A. McGuire, Min Ouyang, and Cheng Gong
Phys. Rev. Materials 7, 014008 – Published 31 January 2023
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Abstract

Exchange bias arises from the interfacial exchange coupling in ferromagnet-antiferromagnet bilayers and manifests as a horizontal shift of the magnetic hysteresis loop, constituting a critical component underpinning a broad range of magnetoresistive logic and memory devices. The facile implementation of exchange bias in van der Waals (vdW) magnets would be a key step towards practical devices for emerging vdW spintronics. Here, we report an easy approach to establishing strong exchange bias in the vdW magnet Fe5GeTe2 by a single-step process—atomic layer deposition (ALD) of oxides on Fe5GeTe2. We successfully created exchange bias of 300–1500 Oe in Fe5GeTe2/Al2O3, Fe5GeTe2/ZnO, and Fe5GeTe2/V2O5 heterostructures, at 130 K. Control experiments showed that increasing the oxidant pulse duration in each ALD cycle or utilizing the stronger oxidant O3 can enhance the exchange bias strength, revealing the key role of the ALD oxidants. Our systematic work elucidates the essential role of ALD-enabled oxidization of Fe5GeTe2 in the formation of exchange bias, and establishes ALD of oxides as a facile, controllable, and generally effective approach to creating giant exchange bias in vdW magnets, representing an integral advance towards practical vdW spintronic devices.

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  • Received 25 July 2022
  • Accepted 13 January 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.7.014008

©2023 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Jierui Liang1, Shanchuan Liang1, Ti Xie1, Andrew F. May2, Thomas Ersevim3, Qinqin Wang1, Hyobin Ahn4, Changgu Lee4,5, Xixiang Zhang6, Jian-Ping Wang7, Michael A. McGuire2, Min Ouyang3, and Cheng Gong1,*

  • 1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Quantum Technology Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 2Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 4SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon Gyeonggido 16419, Republic of Korea
  • 5Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon Gyeonggido 16419, Republic of Korea
  • 6King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Physical Sciences and Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
  • 7Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

  • *Corresponding author: gongc@umd.edu

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Issue

Vol. 7, Iss. 1 — January 2023

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