Reconfigurable Room Temperature Exchange Bias through Néel Order Switching in van der Waals Heterostructures

Abstract

Exchange bias effect plays a crucial role in modern magnetic memory technology. Recently, van der Waals magnetic materials have emerged and shown potential in spintronic devices at atomic scale. Owing to their tunable physical properties and the flexibility in fabrication, the van der Waals heterostructures offer more possibilities for investigating potential mechanisms of the exchange bias effect. However, due to low magnetic ordering temperatures for most van der Waals magnets, to establish exchange bias in van der Waals antiferromagnet/ferromagnet heterostructures at room temperature is challenging. In this study, we fabricate (Fe$_{0.56}$Co$_{0.44}$)$_{5}$GeTe$_{2}$(FCGT)/Fe$_{3}$GaTe$_{2}$(FGaT) heterostructures with magnetic ordering temperatures of each component well above room temperature to achieve a room temperature exchange bias effect. It is found that the sign and magnitude of the exchange bias field can be efficiently controlled by manipulating the Néel order of FCGT with magnetic field. The manipulation of Néel order shows significant magnetic field dependence. A strong pre-set field induces a switch in the Néel order of FCGT, which aligns the interfacial magnetization at the FCGT/FGaT interface, leading to robust exchange bias, as revealed by both transport measurements and macro-spin model calculations. Our findings demonstrate the intrinsic manipulation and switchable of room-temperature exchange bias in all-van der Waals heterostructures and further promote the development of novel two-dimensional spintronic devices.