Towards room-temperature v magnetic semiconductors

The ferromagnetic state in van der Waals two-dimensional (2D) materials has been reported recently in the monolayer limit. Intrinsic CrI₃ and CrGeTe₃ semiconductors reveal ferromagnetism but the Tc is still low below 60K. In contrast, monolayer VSe₂ is ferromagnetic metal with Tc above room temperature but incapable of controlling its carrier density. Moreover, the long-range ferromagnetic order in doped diluted chalcogenide semiconductors has not been demonstrated at room temperature. The key research target is to realize the long-range order ferromagnetism, T_c over room temperature, and semiconductor with gate tunability. Here, we unambiguously observe a ferromagnetic hysteresis loop together with magnetic domains above room temperature in diluted V-doped WSe₂, while maintaining the semiconducting characteristic of WSe₂ with a high on/off current ratio of five orders of magnitude. Some examples of other magnetic 2D materials are also presented.