Anisotropic magnetoresistance in room temperature ferromagnetic single crystal CrTe flake

Chromium tellurides have triggered tremendous investigations in physics and materials science, where their unique properties offer excellent opportunities for spintronic applications. Here, we report anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) of ferromagnetic CrTe single crystal flake grown by chemical vapor deposition. An individual hexagonal flake exhibits an easy magnetization axis along its normal direction, and cooling from room temperature to low temperature, its electrical resistance measured with the magnetization parallel to current geometry is larger than that for the perpendicular to the current geometry, indicating the presence of an AMR behavior. The AMR ratio has been found to increase with decreasing temperature and is 5.2% at 5 K, comparable with general magnetic transition metal and alloy. This suggests CrTe single crystal flake to be a promising magnetic material for spintronics applications. •CrTe single crystal flake with Tc of 300 K presents a promising room temperature ferromagnet.•Resistance as a function of the magnetic field orientations agrees well with the theory of (AMR).•AMR ratio increases with decreasing temperature and is 5.2% at 5 K.•The scattering of conduction electrons by spin waves excited by kT plays an important role in the resistance.