Above-room-temperature intrinsic ferromagnetism in ultrathin van der Waals crystal Fe3+xGaTe2.

Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnets are crucial for ultra-compact spintronics. However, so far, no vdW crystal has exhibited tunable above-room-temperature intrinsic ferromagnetism in the 2D ultrathin regime. Here, we report the tunable above-room-temperature intrinsic ferromagnetism in ultrathin vdW crystal Fe_3+xGaTe₂ (x = 0 and 0.3). By increasing the Fe content, the Curie temperature (T_C) and room-temperature saturation magnetization of bulk Fe_3+xGaTe₂ crystals are enhanced from 354 to 376 K and 43.9 to 50.4 emu·g⁻¹, respectively. Remarkably, the robust anomalous Hall effect in 3-nm Fe_3.3GaTe₂ indicates a record-high T_C of 340 K and a large room-temperature perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy of 6.6 × 10⁵ J m⁻³, superior to other ultrathin vdW ferromagnets. First-principles calculations reveal the asymmetric density of states and an additional large spin exchange interaction in ultrathin Fe_3+xGaTe₂ responsible for robust intrinsic ferromagnetism and higher T_C. This work opens a window for above-room-temperature ultrathin 2D magnets in vdW-integrated spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]