Prediction of three-terminal 2D magnetoelectric heterostructure

Materials possessing both ferromagnetic (FM) and ferroelectric (FE) orderings enable the control of magnetism by electric fields and the reverse, showing broad applications in various functional devices. The key for the cross control of FM and FE orderings is strong magnetoelectric coupling. Here, by using density-functional-theory calculations, we show that magnetoelectric coupling is enhanced significantly in heterostructures that combine polar FM MnSeTe and FE In₂Se₃ monolayers. The polarity of the MnSeTe enhances the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) and the magnetoelectric coupling with the In₂Se₃ monolayer. A bilayer MnSeTe/In₂Se₃ heterostructure exhibits magnetic skyrmions that can be modulated by reversing the polarization of In₂Se₃ by an applied electric field. We further design a trilayer In₂Se₃/MnSeTe/In₂Se₃ heterostructure, in which multiple FE polarization states enable control of the evolution of magnetic skyrmions in MnSeTe in a three-terminal device configuration. The present findings provide a method to achieve strong magnetoelectric coupling in the 2D limit and a new perspective for the design of related spintronics.