Sign-flipping intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity with Berry curvature tunability in a half-metallic ferromagnet NbSe2–VSe2 lateral heterostructure

Abstract

Single-layer half-metal magnets offer exciting scope in spin electronic quantum applications owing to improved spin transport, reduced interfacial resistance and streamlined device fabrication. Herein, we report the emergence of sign-flipping intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) as a result of changes in Berry curvature under an external electric field and half metallicity in a lateral heterostructure composed of centrosymmetric metallic monolayers 1T-NbSe₂ and 1T-VSe₂. The metallic monolayers 1T-NbSe₂ and 1T-VSe₂ laterally interfaced along the zigzag orientation break inversion symmetry at the interface and result in distinctive Berry curvature features. Furthermore, the half-metallic character was prominent with gapped states in the spin-up channel, while the spin-down state remained conductive; we observed the unique manifestation of sign-flipping intrinsic AHC at the Fermi level in addition to the electron- and hole-doped regions. This sign-flipping aspect of AHC at the Fermi level is of fundamental importance from the prospect of real-time device applications as it eliminates the necessity of supplementary actions, such as doping and strain engineering, which are traditionally employed to achieve AHC sign reversal. Additionally, a phase transition from half metal to metal occurs at a field of 0.5 V Å⁻¹ and beyond. Half metallicity with sign switching AHC via external electric field makes the lateral NbSe₂–VSe₂ heterostructure a potential candidate for real-time energy-efficient low-power spintronic devices.