title: Spin-Valve Effect in NiFe/MoS2/NiFe Junctions.
abstract: Two-dimensional (2D) layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been recently proposed as appealing candidate materials for spintronic applications owing to their distinctive atomic crystal structure and exotic physical properties arising from the large bonding anisotropy. Here we introduce the first MoS2-based spin-valves that employ monolayer MoS2 as the nonmagnetic spacer. In contrast with what is expected from the semiconducting band-structure of MoS2, the vertically sandwiched-MoS2 layers exhibit metallic behavior. This originates from their strong hybridization with the Ni and Fe atoms of the Permalloy (Py) electrode. The spin-valve effect is observed up to 240 K, with the highest magnetoresistance (MR) up to 0.73% at low temperatures. The experimental work is accompanied by the first principle electron transport calculations, which reveal an MR of ∼9% for an ideal Py/MoS2/Py junction. Our results clearly identify TMDs as a promising spacer compound in magnetic tunnel junctions and may open a new avenue for the TMDs-based spintronic applications.
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics and ‡Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Weiyi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: §School of Physics, AMBER and CRANN Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.|∥Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Awadhesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Narayan
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics and ‡Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: ⊥Graphene Research Center and Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, 117542, Singapore.
authors.forename: Kapildeb
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dolui
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics and ‡Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Yanwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics and ‡Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics and ‡Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Yibo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics and ‡Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Yizheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: §School of Physics, AMBER and CRANN Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rungger
authors.affiliation: §School of Physics, AMBER and CRANN Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanvito
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics and ‡Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Faxian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xiu
keywords: MoS2; Spin valve; spacer layer; spintronics