For decades, semiconductors and their heterostructures have underpinned both fundamental and applied research across all areas of electronics. Two-dimensional, 2D (atomically thin) semiconductors have now the potential to push further the miniaturization of electronic components, enabling the development of more efficient electronics. Here, we report on a giant anomalous zero-bias spin voltage in magnetic tunnel junctions based on 2D materials. The generation, manipulation and detection of electron spin across a nanometer-thick magnetic tunnel junction do not require any applied bias. It is achieved by exploiting high-quality ferromagnetic/semiconductor interfaces and the asymmetric diffusion of spin-up/spin-down electrons across a semiconductor p-n junction. The large spin-voltage signal exceeds 30,000% and is far greater than the highest magnetoresistance signals reported to date. Our findings reveal unexplored opportunities to transform and amplify spin information for low-power electronics.
@article{arxiv.2509.04206,
title = {Two-dimensional magnetic tunnel p-n junctions for low-power electronics},
author = {Wenkai Zhu and Ziao Wang and Tiangui Hu and Zakhar R. Kudrynskyi and Tong Zhou and Zakhar D. Kovalyuk and Ce Hu and Hailong Lin and Xiaodong Li and Yongcheng Deng and Quanshan Lv and Lixia Zhao and Amalia Patane and Igor Zutic and Houzhi Zheng and Kaiyou Wang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.04206},
year = {2025}
}