Increased Curie temperature and enhanced perpendicular magneto anisotropy of Cr2Ge2Te6/NiO heterostructures

Magnetism in two-dimensional van der Waals materials has received significant attention recently. The Curie temperature reported for these materials, however, has so far remained relatively low. Here, we measure magneto-optical Kerr effects under a perpendicular magnetic field for van der Waals ferromagnet Cr2Ge2Te6 and its heterostructures with antiferromagnetic insulator NiO. We observe a notable increase in both Curie temperature and magnetic perpendicular anisotropy in Cr2Ge2Te6/NiO heterostructures compared to those in Cr2Ge2Te6. Measurements on the same exfoliated Cr2Ge2Te6 flake (on a SiO2/Si substrate) before and after depositing NiO show that the hysteresis loop can change into a square shape with a larger coercive field for Cr2Ge2Te6/NiO. The maximum Curie temperature (TC) observed for Cr2Ge2Te6/NiO reaches ∼120 K, which is nearly twice the maximum TC ∼ 60 K reported for Cr2Ge2Te6 alone. Both enhanced perpendicular anisotropy and increased Curie temperature are observed for Cr2Ge2Te6 flakes with a variety of thicknesses ranging from ∼5 nm to ∼200 nm. The results indicate that magnetic properties of two-dimensional van der Waals magnets can be engineered and controlled by using the heterostructure interface with other materials.