Prediction of High Curie Temperature, Large Magnetic Crystal Anisotropy in 2D Ferromagnetic Co$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ Monolayer and Multilayer

Abstract: The Co$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ shows intrinsic ferromagnetic (FM) order, which origins from superexchange interaction between Co and Te atoms, with higher Curie temperature ($T_c$) of 161 K. Co$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ monolayer (ML) is half-metal (HM), and spin-$\beta$ electron is a semiconductor with gap of 1.311 eV. Co$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ ML tends in-plane anisotropy (IPA), with magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) of -10.2 meV/f.u.. Co$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ ML shows good dynamical and thermal stability. Most interestingly, bilayers present ferromagnetic half-metallicity independent of the stacking orders. Notley, the multilayers ($N\ge 6$) present ferromagnetic HM, while the magnetoelectronic properties are related with the stacking patterns in thinner multilayers. Moreover, the magnetoelectronic properties are dependent on the stacking orders of bulk. The magnetic order with multilayers is determined by the super-super exchange and weak van der Waals (vdW) interaction. Co$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ with intrinsic ferromagnetism, good stability of ferromagnetism and half-metallicity could help researchers to investigate its wide application in the spintronics.