Spin-dependent transport properties of Fe3O4/MoS2/Fe3O4 junctions

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Date

2015-11-02

Authors

Wu, Han-Chun
Ó Coileáin, Cormac
Abid, Mourad
Mauit, Ozhet
Syrlybekov, Askar
Khalid, Abbas
Xu, Hongjun
Gatensby, Riley
Wang, Jing Jing
Liu, Huajun

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Scientific Reports

Abstract

Magnetite is a half-metal with a high Curie temperature of 858 K, making it a promising candidate for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). Yet, initial efforts to exploit its half metallic nature in Fe3O4/ MgO/Fe3O4 MTJ structures have been far from promising. Finding suitable barrier layer materials, which keep the half metallic nature of Fe3O4 at the interface between Fe3O4 layers and barrier layer, is one of main challenges in this field. Two-dimensional (2D) materials may be good candidates for this purpose. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductor with distinctive electronic, optical, and catalytic properties. Here, we show based on the first principle calculations that Fe3O4 keeps a nearly fully spin polarized electron band at the interface between MoS2 and Fe3O4. We also present the first attempt to fabricate the Fe3O4/MoS2/Fe3O4 MTJs. A clear tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) signal was observed below 200 K. Thus, our experimental and theoretical studies indicate that MoS2 can be a good barrier material for Fe3O4 based MTJs.Our calculations also indicate that junctions incorporating monolayer or bilayer MoS2 are metallic.

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Keywords

magnetite, magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), Molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR)

Citation

Wu Han-Chun et al.(>14), 2015(November 2), Spin-dependent transport properties of Fe3O4/MoS2/Fe3O4 junctions, Scientific Reports

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