Phys.org September 5, 2022
An international team of researchers (USA – UC Riverside, Israel, Japan) stacked monolayer WTe2 with an insulating ferromagnet of several atomic layer thickness—of Cr2Ge2Te6 (CGT) and found that the WTe2 had developed ferromagnetism with a conducting edge. The edge flow of the electrons was unidirectional and could be made to switch directions with the use of an external magnetic field. When only the edge conducts electricity, the size of the interior of the material is inconsequential, allowing electronic devices that use such materials to be made smaller. Currently, the technology works only at very low temperatures; CGT is ferromagnetic at around 60 K (or -350 F). The goal of future research would be to make the technology work at higher temperatures, allowing for many nanoelectronic applications such as non-volatile memory chips used in computers and cell phones. According to the researchers because the devices using this material would consume less power and dissipate less energy, they could be made more energy efficient…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
In their experiments, the researchers stacked monolayer WTe2 with Cr2Ge2Te6, or CGT. Credit: Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 5134 (2022)Â