Polarity-tunable field-free room-temperature spin orbit torque switching via topological symmetry breaking in an all-vdW heterostructure for spin logic applications
Two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials hold great promise for advancing low-power, high-integrated spintronic devices due to their atomic flat surfaces and versatile interfacial modulation. However, achieving a combination of room-temperature, field-free spin-orbit torque switching with tunable polarity in wafer-scale vdW heterostructures remains a significant challenge. Here, we demonstrate polarity-tunable, field-free spin-orbit torque switching in an all-vdW Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>/Fe<sub>4</sub>GeTe<sub>2</sub> heterostructure, grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Interfacial coupling induces perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub>/Fe<sub>4</sub>GeTe<sub>2</sub> interface, while the rest in-plane magnetic anisotropy component of Fe<sub>4</sub>GeTe<sub>2</sub> breaks the inversion symmetry, enabling field-free switching. By modulating the direction of in-plane component, magnetic switching with different polarity could be achieved at low current density (~1.55×10<sup>6</sup> A/cm<sup>2</sup>). This allows for 16 reconfigurable Boolean logic functions in a single device, paving a pathway for energy-efficient 2D spintronic memory and logic systems. Our findings highlight the potential of all-vdW spin-orbit torque devices to revolutionize spintronics with scalable, room-temperature electronic control.
Authors
- Wei Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6268-2559)
- Zongxia Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2607-4019)
- Fei Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9637-6114)
- N. Jaouen
- Xiaoyue Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7207-416X)
- Yun Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1848-5440)
- Shucheng Xing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4661-5428)
- Guodong Wei
- Weiran Xie
- Jin Zou
- Runyu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8326-0993)
- Peiyuan Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4976-2022)
- Tianxiao Nie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9238-5553)
- Zili Wang
- Yuan Yao
- Jie Zhang
- Jing Li
- Roberto Mantovan
Institutions
- Zhejiang International Studies University (CN)
- Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Italy) (IT)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Synchrotron soleil (FR)
- Institute of Physics (CN)
- Beihang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-03-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70590-1
- Primary Topic
- 2D Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China