Room-temperature multiferroicity in sliding van der Waals semiconductors with sub-0.3 V switching

Rui Chen, Fanhao Meng (), Hongrui Zhang, Yuzi Liu, Shancheng Yan, Xilong Xu, Linghan Zhu, Jiazhen Chen, Tao Zhou, Jingcheng Zhou, Fuyi Yang, Penghong Ci, Xiaoxi Huang, Xianzhe Chen, Tiancheng Zhang, Yuhang Cai, Kaichen Dong, Yin Liu, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Chia-Ching Lin, Ashish Verma Penumatcha, Ian Young, Emory Chan, Junqiao Wu, Li Yang, Ramamoorthy Ramesh and Jie Yao ()
Additional contact information
Rui Chen: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Fanhao Meng: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Hongrui Zhang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Yuzi Liu: Argonne National Laboratory
Shancheng Yan: Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Xilong Xu: Washington University in St. Louis
Linghan Zhu: Washington University in St. Louis
Jiazhen Chen: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Tao Zhou: Argonne National Laboratory
Jingcheng Zhou: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Fuyi Yang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Penghong Ci: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Xiaoxi Huang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Xianzhe Chen: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Tiancheng Zhang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Yuhang Cai: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Kaichen Dong: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Yin Liu: North Carolina State University
Kenji Watanabe: National Institute for Material Science
Takashi Taniguchi: National Institute for Material Science
Chia-Ching Lin: Components Research, Intel Corporation
Ashish Verma Penumatcha: Components Research, Intel Corporation
Ian Young: Components Research, Intel Corporation
Emory Chan: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Junqiao Wu: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Li Yang: Washington University in St. Louis
Ramamoorthy Ramesh: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California
Jie Yao: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The search for van der Waals (vdW) multiferroic materials has been challenging but also holds great potential for the next-generation multifunctional nanoelectronics. The group-IV monochalcogenide, with an anisotropic puckered structure and an intrinsic in-plane polarization at room temperature, manifests itself as a promising candidate with coupled ferroelectric and ferroelastic order as the basis for multiferroic behavior. Unlike the intrinsic centrosymmetric AB stacking, we demonstrate a multiferroic phase of tin selenide (SnSe), where the inversion symmetry breaking is maintained in AA-stacked multilayers over a wide range of thicknesses. We observe that an interlayer-sliding-induced out-of-plane (OOP) ferroelectric polarization couples with the in-plane (IP) one, making it possible to control out-of-plane polarization via in-plane electric field and vice versa. Notably, thickness scaling yields a sub-0.3 V ferroelectric switching, which promises future low-power-consumption applications. Furthermore, coexisting armchair- and zigzag-like structural domains are imaged under electron microscopy, providing experimental evidence for the degenerate ferroelastic ground states theoretically predicted. Non-centrosymmetric SnSe, as the first layered multiferroic at room temperature, provides a novel platform not only to explore the interactions between elementary excitations with controlled symmetries, but also to efficiently tune the device performance via external electric and mechanical stress.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58009-9

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