Van der Waals Heterostructures for Next-Generation Spintronics: Multiferroic-Mediated Magnetoelectric Properties

The growing demand for energy-efficient information processing is pushing conventional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology toward its fundamental limits, driving the search for alternative material platforms. Among these, magnetic systems are attractive for next-generation devices because they can store and transmit information via spin transport. However, manipulating magnetization states with electric currents remains intrinsically energy intensive. Multiferroic heterostructures, which combine ferroelectric and ferromagnetic orders, provide a promising route toward low-power electronics by enabling electric-field control of magnetic order with 2-3 orders of magnitude lower energy dissipation than current-driven schemes. In this review, we summarize recent progress in the electrical control of magnetism using artificial multiferroic heterostructures based on conventional oxides and emerging van der Waals (vdW) two-dimensional (2D) materials, highlighting interfacial coupling mechanisms such as magnetic anisotropy modulation, strain transfer, and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). Finally, we discuss fabrication strategies for vdW 2D multiferroic heterostructures that are critical for future device integration, including phase-engineered synthesis, contamination-free assembly, and passivation schemes for environmental stability.