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A seamless graphene spin valve based on proximity to van der Waals magnet Cr2Ge2Te6

Nature Electronics volume 8, pages 15–23 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Pristine graphene is potentially an ideal medium for transporting spin information. Proximity effects—where a neighbouring material is used to alter the properties of a material in adjacent (or proximitized) regions—can also be used in graphene to generate and detect spins by acquiring spin–orbit coupling or magnetic exchange coupling. However, the development of seamless spintronic devices that are based only on proximity effects remains challenging. Here we report a two-dimensional graphene spin valve that is enabled by proximity to the van der Waals magnet Cr2Ge2Te6. Spin precession measurements show that the graphene acquires both spin–orbit coupling and magnetic exchange coupling when interfaced with the Cr2Ge2Te6. This leads to spin generation by both electrical spin injection and the spin Hall effect, while retaining spin transport. The simultaneous presence of spin–orbit coupling and magnetic exchange coupling also leads to a sizeable anomalous Hall effect.

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Fig. 1: Charge-to-spin conversion in a graphene/CGT van der Waals heterostructure.
Fig. 2: SHE and ESI measurements of CGT-proximitized graphene.
Fig. 3: All-2D lateral spin valve with two CGT-proximitized graphene regions.
Fig. 4: AHE in CGT-proximitized graphene.

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Data availability

Source data in the paper are available via figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22815824 (ref. 58). Any further data used in this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank V. Amin for useful discussions. We acknowledge funding from the Valleytronics Intel Science and Technology Center, from MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Grant No. CEX2020-001038-M), from MICIU/AEI and ERDF/EU (Project Nos. PID2021-122511OB-I00 and PID2021-128004NB-C21), from MICIU/AEI and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (Project No. PCI2021-122038-2A) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 766025. H.Y. acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62404014, 92164206 and 52261145694). B.M.-G. and M.G. acknowledge support from MICIU/AEI and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (Grant Nos. RYC2021-034836-I and RYC2021-031705-I, respectively). A.F. acknowledges the support of the University of the Basque Country as a distinguished researcher.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIC nanoGUNE BRTA, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    Haozhe Yang, Franz Herling, Francesco Calavalle, Beatriz Martín-García, Luis E. Hueso & Fèlix Casanova

  2. Fert Beijing Institute, MIIT Key Laboratory of Spintronics, School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Haozhe Yang

  3. IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain

    Marco Gobbi, Beatriz Martín-García, Luis E. Hueso & Fèlix Casanova

  4. Centro de Física de Materiales (CSIC-EHU/UPV) and Materials Physics Center (MPC), Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    Marco Gobbi

  5. IMEC, Leuven, Belgium

    Van Tuong Pham

  6. Laboratoire Albert Fert, CNRS, Thales, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France

    Albert Fert

  7. Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    Albert Fert

  8. Department of Materials Physics, EHU/UPV, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    Albert Fert

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  1. Haozhe Yang
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Contributions

H.Y. and F. Casanova conceived the study. H.Y. fabricated the samples with the help of F.H. H.Y. performed the electrical measurements with the help of F. Calavalle and F.H. B.M.-G and H.Y. performed the Raman spectroscopy measurements. V.T.P and H.Y. performed the finite element simulations. H.Y., M.G., A.F., L.E.H. and F. Casanova analysed the data and discussed the experiments. All authors contributed to the discussion of the results and their interpretation. H.Y., M.G. and F. Casanova wrote the paper with input from all authors.

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Correspondence to Haozhe Yang or Fèlix Casanova.

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Nature Electronics thanks Jing Shi and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Notes 1–11 and Figs. 1–9.

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Yang, H., Gobbi, M., Herling, F. et al. A seamless graphene spin valve based on proximity to van der Waals magnet Cr2Ge2Te6. Nat Electron 8, 15–23 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01267-0

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