University of Texas at El Paso Researchers Improve Magnets for Computing

From University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)

Led by physicist Srinivasa Singamaneni, Ph.D., associate professor, department of physics, UTEP, team of researchers has discovered new type of magnet that can be used in quantum computing. The magnet works in temperatures of up to 170°F.

As demand rises for increased data storage and faster-performing computers, researchers are creating a new-gen of materials to meet consumers’ expectations.

“How can we design new materials so that they can store data with less volume, less cost and using less power?” asked Srinivasa Singamaneni, Ph.D., associate professor, department of physics, UTEP.

The answer may be in a new type of magnet discovered by Singamaneni and UTEP physicists. The material is described in Nature journal npj 2D Materials and Applications.

“Many researchers are exploring quantum magnets to revolutionize the future of computational power,” Singamaneni said. “Lots of tools use traditional magnets — laptops, speakers, headsets, MRI scanners – and these magnets can be replaced by quantum magnets one day.”

Lead author of the study, he has been working on a class of magnets known as van der Waals magnets since 2021. The new 2D magnets – which have a length and width but are only one layer thick – have huge potential in the computing world because of their tiny size, Singamaneni said.

Van der Waals magnets, however, have only ever worked at temperatures below freezing – until now.

Alongside a team of scientists from Stanford University, The University of Edinburgh, Los Alamos National Lab, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Brookhaven National Lab, Singamaneni has discovered that adding a low-cost organic material – known as tetrabutylammonium – between the magnet’s atomic layers allows the magnet to work in temperatures of up to 170°F.

“Van der Waals magnets don’t have practical applications right now because of their temperature constraints,” he said. “My approach is unique because we’ve shown that a simple chemical treatment to a distinct magnet can push boundaries of 2D magnetism; this could be quite transformative for the industry.”

The team has demonstrated the magnet’s potential at the lab level but plans to continue studying and perfecting the material for use in computing.

Additional authors on the study are UTEP alumnus Hector Iturriaga, now at Stanford University; UTEP graduate student Luis M. Martinez and UTEP scientists Sreeprasad Sreenivasan, Ph.D., and Mohamed Sanad, Ph.D.; NIST scientists Thuc Mai, Ph.D., Adam Biacchi, Ph.D., and Angela Hight Walker, Ph.D.; University of Edinburgh scientists Mathias Augustin, Ph.D., and Elton Santos, Ph.D.,; Los Alamos National Lab’s Yu Liu, Ph.D.; and Cedomir Petrovic, Ph.D., Brookhaven National Lab.

Article: Magnetic properties of intercalated quasi-2D Fe_3-xGeTe₂ van der Waals magnet

npj 2D Materials and Applications has published an article written by Hector Iturriaga, Present address: Stanford Engineering Research, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA, and Department of Physics, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA, Luis M. Martinez, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA , Thuc T. Mai, Quantum Metrology Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA , Adam J. Biacchi, Nanoscale Device Characterization Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA, Mathias Augustin, Institute for Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Systems, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FD, UK, and Donostia International Physics Centre (DIPC), Donostia-San Sebastian, 20018, Spain, Angela R. Hight Walker, Quantum Metrology Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA, Mohamed Fathi Sanad, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA, and Department of Chemical Engineering, Hampton University, Hampton, VA, 23668, USA, Sreeprasad T. Sreenivasan, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA, Yu Liu, Present address: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA, and Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA, Elton J. G. Santos, Institute for Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Systems, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FD, UK, and Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FD, UK, Cedomir Petrovic, Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA, and Srinivasa R. Singamaneni, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA.

Abstract: “Among several well-known transition metal-based compounds, cleavable van der Waals (vdW) Fe_3-xGeTe₂ (FGT) magnet is a strong candidate for use in two-dimensional (2D) magnetic devices due to its strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, sizeable Curie temperature (T_C ~154 K), and versatile magnetic character that is retained in the low-dimensional limit. While the T_C remains far too low for practical applications, there has been a successful push toward improving it via external driving forces such as pressure, irradiation, and doping. Here we present experimental evidence of a room temperature (RT) ferromagnetic phase induced by the electrochemical intercalation of common tetrabutylammonium cations (TBA+) into quasi-2D FGT. We obtained Curie temperatures as high as 350 K with chemical and physical stability of the intercalated compound. The temperature-dependent Raman measurements, in combination with vdW-corrected ab initio calculations, suggest that charge transfer (electron doping) upon intercalation could lead to the observation of RT ferromagnetism. This work demonstrates that molecular intercalation is a viable route in realizing high-temperature vdW magnets in an inexpensive and reliable manner, and has the potential to be extended to bilayer and few-layer vdW magnets.“