Field-free deterministic switching of a van der Waals ferromagnet above room temperature

Two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) magnets are promising candidates for developing future spintronic devices. They alleviate the issues of performance, variability and scalability facing traditional bulk magnetic systems. However, achieving field-free electrical switching of vdW ferromagnets at room temperature has remained a major challenge in translating vdW magnets into commercial spintronics.

In this talk, we present the first all-vdW system that enables field-free electrical switching of a vdW magnet at room temperature using a spin-orbit torque (SOT) structure composed of Fe₃GaTe₂ (FGaT) and the low-symmetry semimetal T_d-WTe₂. FGaT, with a Curie temperature of ~350 K and strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is a potent candidate for spintronics. Our experiments show that FGaT can be switched at room temperature with current densities as low as ~2×10⁶ A/cm², among the lowest reported for vdW magnet-based systems [1, 2]. While FGaT/Pt requires an in-plane magnetic field, the FGaT/WTe₂ system generates an unconventional out-of-plane damping-like SOT, enabling field-free deterministic switching. These findings pave the way for scalable, energy-efficient spintronic devices based on vdW magnets.

[1] Kajale S.N. et al. Sci. Adv.10, eadk8669 (2024)

[2] Kajale, S.N., Nguyen, T. et al. Nat Commun 15, 1485 (2024)