Enabling room temperature ferromagnetism in monolayer MoS₂ via in situ iron-doping

Two-dimensional semiconductors, including transition metal dichalcogenides, are of interest in electronics and photonics but remain nonmagnetic in their intrinsic form. Previous efforts to form two-dimensional dilute magnetic semiconductors utilized extrinsic doping techniques or bulk crystal growth, detrimentally affecting uniformity, scalability, or Curie temperature. Here, we demonstrate an in situ substitutional doping of Fe atoms into MoS₂ monolayers in the chemical vapor deposition growth. The iron atoms substitute molybdenum sites in MoS₂ crystals, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and Raman signatures. We uncover an Fe-related spectral transition of Fe:MoS₂ monolayers that appears at 2.28 eV above the pristine bandgap and displays pronounced ferromagnetic hysteresis. The microscopic origin is further corroborated by density functional theory calculations of dipole-allowed transitions in Fe:MoS₂. Using spatially integrating magnetization measurements and spatially resolving nitrogen-vacancy center magnetometry, we show that Fe:MoS₂ monolayers remain magnetized even at ambient conditions, manifesting ferromagnetism at room temperature.