Revealing antiferromagnetic transition of van der Waals MnPS3 via vertical tunneling electrical resistance measurement

Abstract

Understanding the correlation between the electronic and magnetic properties of materials is a crucial step to functionalize or modulate their properties. However, it is not straightforward to electrically characterize magnetic insulators, especially large-bandgap materials, due to their high resistivity. Here, we successfully performed electrical measurements of a two-dimensional (2D) antiferromagnetic insulator, van der Waals-layered MnPS3, by accounting for the vertical graphene/MnPS3/graphene heterostructure. Antiferromagnetic transition is observed by the variance in electrical resistance from the paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition near ∼78 K in the vertically stacked heterostructure devices, which is consistent with the magnetic moment measurement. This opens an opportunity for modulating the magnetic transition of 2D van der Waals materials via an electrical gate or surface functionalization.