From Stoner to local moment magnetism in atomically thin Cr₂Te₃

The field of two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetism has been proliferating over the past few years, with ongoing interests in basic science and potential applications in spintronic technology. However, a high-resolution spectroscopic study of the 2D ferromagnet is still lacking due to the small size and air sensitivity of the exfoliated nanoflakes. Here, we report a thickness-dependent ferromagnetism in epitaxially grown Cr₂Te₃ thin films and investigate the evolution of the underlying electronic structure by synergistic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and first-principle calculations. A conspicuous ferromagnetic transition from Stoner to Heisenberg-type is directly observed in the atomically thin limit, indicating that dimensionality is a powerful tuning knob to manipulate the novel properties of 2D magnetism. Monolayer Cr₂Te₃ retains robust ferromagnetism, but with a suppressed Curie temperature, due to the drastic drop in the density of states near the Fermi level. Our results establish atomically thin Cr₂Te₃ as an excellent platform to explore the dual nature of localized and itinerant ferromagnetism in 2D magnets.