Growth and properties of magnetic two-dimensional transition-metal chalcogenides

Abstract By virtue of their exotic spin character at low-dimensionality, magnetic two-dimensional transition-metal chalcogenides (2D-TMCs) can potentially serve as a promising platform for fundamental research and applications in spintronic devices. This chapter overviews the recent development of these atomically thin materials. In particular, it will discuss how molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), as a growth strategy, can potentially advance this field by fulfilling three key criteria—scalability, crystallinity and thickness control, and compatibility to vacuum technology. This chapter points out the challenges remaining in and ahead of this field, and provides an outlook on what the future holds for MBE-grown 2D-TMCs.