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Spin-dependent tunneling in 2D MnBi2Te4-based magnetic tunnel junctions

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Abstract

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with ferromagnetic (FM) and/or antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have attracted wide interest for their promising application in spintronic devices. Recently, many discovered two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials offer a flexible platform to design switchable layered FM/AFM MTJs. By using the first-principles quantum transport simulations, we designed the MTJs based on 2D van der Waals layered MnBi\(_2\)Te\(_4\) and studied the spin-dependent electronic and transport properties of the MTJs with the different thickness MnBi\(_2\)Te\(_4\) as well as their FM and AFM configurations. As the increment of MnBi\(_2\)Te\(_4\) layers, our results show that there is a higher spin polarization and the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio at the Fermi level correspondingly increases: 100% and 500%. In particular, when the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) is accounted, the TMR ratio can be enhanced to 500% and 4000%, indicating the SOC effect can lead to the performance improvement of MnBi\(_2\)Te\(_4\)-based MTJs.

Impact statement

For Moore’s Law to continue to work, there is an urgent demand to find new principles, new materials, and more concepts for future devices. Among them, spintronics has exhibited great potential due to its excellent performance. A typical widely used device is the magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) in spintronics. Recently, more and more MTJs based on discovered two-dimensional magnetic materials have been predicted with higher tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR). As the first magnetic topological materials, MnBi2Te4 hold various magnetic states and thickness-dependent properties rather than single ferromagnetic states, and there are more possibilities to design versatile MTJ devices. Here, we construct the magnetic tunnel junctions based on MnBi2Te4 with Cu as the electrode: Cu/n-Layer-MnBi2Te4/Cu (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) device. Based on density functional theory and nonequilibrium Green’s function, we found that with the thickening of the MnBi2Te4 layers, the spin filtering of MnBi2Te4 is more apparent, where the TMR value at the Fermi level is 100%, 200%, and 500% for n = 2, 3, 4 in Cu/n-Layer-MnBi2Te4/Cu devices, respectively. In particular, when the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) is accounted, the TMR ratio can be enhanced to 500%, 4000% for n = 2, 4, indicating the SOC effect can lead to the performance improvement of MnBi2Te4-based MTJs. We believe that our results can motivate further studies on MnBi2Te4-based MTJs for future spintronics devices.

Graphical abstract

Schematic view of MnBi2Te4-based device model. The maximum tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio and the TMR ratio at the Fermi level in Cu/2(4)L-MBT/Cu magnetic tunnel junctions without and with spin–orbit coupling.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (Grant Nos. 2021YFA1200502, and 2018YFA0306101) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12174423, 11974340, and 61674145).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Guohui Zhan, Kun Luo & Zhenhua Wu

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Guohui Zhan, Kun Luo & Zhenhua Wu

  3. National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Zhilong Yang

  4. SKLSM, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Dong Zhang, Wenkai Lou & Kai Chang

  5. School of Mechatronics Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China

    Jiangtao Liu

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  1. Guohui Zhan
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Zhan, G., Yang, Z., Luo, K. et al. Spin-dependent tunneling in 2D MnBi2Te4-based magnetic tunnel junctions. MRS Bulletin 47, 1177–1184 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-022-00381-8

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