Controlling the magnetic properties of layered Cr₂Te₃ ultra-thin film via ex-situ annealing

Chromium telluride (Cr_1+xTe₂) family has been known as a layered itinerant ferromagnet with self-intercalated Cr inside the Van der Waals gap based on 1T CrTe₂. Recently Chromium telluride (Cr_1+xTe₂) family draw huge attention due to their unique physical properties such as Skyrmions (Nature Communications, 13, 3965 (2022)) and topological Hall effect (ACS Nano, 16, 8974 (2022)) etc. As a strong potential candidate to realize 2D-spintronics, numerous research had done to understand the physical properties of Chromium telluride (Cr_1+xTe₂). However, manipulation of the magnetic properties of Chromium telluride (Cr_1+xTe₂) had not been performed yet. Here, we investigate the controlling of the magnetic properties of Cr₂Te₃ ultra-thin films with the ex-situ annealing method. With complementary microscopic and spectroscopic evidence, we will address the origin of the observed manipulation of magnetic properties of the ultra-thin film system.