Electrically controlled nonvolatile switching of single-atom magnetism in a Dy@C84 single-molecule transistor

Feng Wang; Wangqiang Shen; Yuan Shui; Jun Chen; Huaiqiang Wang; Rui Wang; Yuyuan Qin; Xuefeng Wang; Jianguo Wan; Minhao Zhang; Xing Lu; Tao Yang; Fengqi Song

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46854-z

Electrically controlled nonvolatile switching of single-atom magnetism in a Dy@C₈₄ single-molecule transistor

Nat Commun. 2024 Mar 19;15(1):2450. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46854-z.

Authors

Feng Wang^#^{1

2}, Wangqiang Shen^#^{3

4}, Yuan Shui^#⁵, Jun Chen^{1

2}, Huaiqiang Wang⁶, Rui Wang¹, Yuyuan Qin¹, Xuefeng Wang⁷, Jianguo Wan¹, Minhao Zhang^{8

9}, Xing Lu¹⁰, Tao Yang¹¹, Fengqi Song^{12

13}

Affiliations

¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China.
² Institute of Atom Manufacturing, Nanjing University, Suzhou, 215163, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China.
⁵ MOE Key Laboratory for Non-Equilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
⁶ Center for Quantum Transport and Thermal Energy Science, School of Physics and Technology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Spintronics Devices and Technologies, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
⁸ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China. zhangminhao@nju.edu.cn.
⁹ Institute of Atom Manufacturing, Nanjing University, Suzhou, 215163, China. zhangminhao@nju.edu.cn.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China. lux@hust.edu.cn.
¹¹ MOE Key Laboratory for Non-Equilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China. taoyang1@xjtu.edu.cn.
¹² National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China. songfengqi@nju.edu.cn.
¹³ Institute of Atom Manufacturing, Nanjing University, Suzhou, 215163, China. songfengqi@nju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Single-atom magnetism switching is a key technique towards the ultimate data storage density of computer hard disks and has been conceptually realized by leveraging the spin bistability of a magnetic atom under a scanning tunnelling microscope. However, it has rarely been applied to solid-state transistors, an advancement that would be highly desirable for enabling various applications. Here, we demonstrate realization of the electrically controlled Zeeman effect in Dy@C₈₄ single-molecule transistors, thus revealing a transition in the magnetic moment from 3.8 $μ_{B}$ to 5.1 $μ_{B}$ for the ground-state G_N at an electric field strength of 3 $-$ 10 MV/cm. The consequent magnetoresistance significantly increases from 600% to 1100% at the resonant tunneling point. Density functional theory calculations further corroborate our realization of nonvolatile switching of single-atom magnetism, and the switching stability emanates from an energy barrier of 92 meV for atomic relaxation. These results highlight the potential of using endohedral metallofullerenes for high-temperature, high-stability, high-speed, and compact single-atom magnetic data storage.