Cenker, JohnOvchinnikov, DmitryYang, HarveyChica, Daniel G.Zhu, CatherineCai, JiaqiDiederich, Geoffrey M.Liu, ZhaoyuZhu, XiaoyangRoy, XavierCao, TingDaniels, Matthew W.Chu, Jiun-HawXiao, DiXu, Xiaodong2025-04-012025-04-012023-01-10https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2301.03759http://hdl.handle.net/11603/37826The magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is a backbone device for spintronics. Realizing next generation energy efficient MTJs will require operating mechanisms beyond the standard means of applying magnetic fields or large electrical currents. Here, we demonstrate a new concept for programmable MTJ operation via strain control of the magnetic states of CrSBr, a layered antiferromagnetic semiconductor used as the tunnel barrier. Switching the CrSBr from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic order generates a giant tunneling magnetoresistance ratio without external magnetic field at temperatures up to ≈ 140 K. When the static strain is set near the phase transition, applying small strain pulses leads to active flipping of layer magnetization with controlled layer number and thus magnetoresistance states. Further, finely adjusting the static strain to a critical value turns on stochastic switching between metastable states, with a strain-tunable sigmoidal response curve akin to the stochastic binary neuron. Our results highlight the potential of strain-programmable van der Waals MTJs towards spintronic applications, such as magnetic memory, random number generation, and probabilistic and neuromorphic computing.25 pagesen-USThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.Public Domainhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/Condensed Matter - Materials ScienceCondensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale PhysicsText