Quantum anomalous Hall effect in germanene by proximity coupling to a semiconducting ferromagnetic substrate NiI₂

Interfaces between materials are ubiquitous in materials science, especially in devices. As device dimensions continue to be reduced, understanding the physical characteristics that appear at interfaces is crucial to exploit them for applications, spintronics in this case. Here, based on first-principles calculations, we propose a general and tunable platform to realize an exotic quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) with the germanene monolayer by proximity coupling to a semiconducting ferromagnetic NiI₂ (Ge/NiI₂). Through analysis of the Berry curvature and band structure with spin-orbit coupling, the QAHE phase with an integer Chern number (C = -1), which is induced by band inversion between Ge-p orbitals, can achieve complete spin polarization for low-dissipation electronic devices. Also, the proximity coupling between germanene and the NiI₂ substrate makes the non-trivial bandgap reach up to 85 meV, and the Curie temperature of the Ge/NiI₂ heterostructure (HTS) is enhanced to 238 K, which is much higher than that of pristine NiI₂. An effective k·p model is proposed to clarify the quantum phenomena in the Ge/NiI₂ HTS. These findings shed light on the possible role of magnetic proximity effects on condensed matter physics in germanene and open new perspectives for multifunctional spin quantum devices in spintronics.