Structural and magnetic properties of half-heusler alloys NiCrZ (Z = Si, P, Ge, As, Te): First principle study

Abstract

We present a first principle study of new class of high-$T_c$ half-heusler ferromagnets NiCrZ (Z = Si, P, Ge, As, Te). The structure and magnetic properties are investigated through the calculation of the electronic structure, equilibrium lattice constant, magnetic exchange interaction $J_{ij}$ and Curie temperature $T_c$. The role of $sp$-elements and the influence of lattice expansion/compression are also studied. In alloys having 20 valence electrons, a pseudo-gap of the majority band can be formed at Fermi level. Otherwise, the half-metallicity and ferromagnetism at temperatures much higher than room temperature are found to be stable in a wide range of lattice expansion. Based on these results, NiCrZ can be expected to be promising materials for spintronics.

10 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Ab-initio determined electronic and magnetic properties of half-metallic NiCrSi and NiMnSi Heusler alloys; the role of interfaces and defects
• New High-$T_c$ Half-Heusler Ferromagnets NiMnZ (Z = Si, P, Ge, As)

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Half-metallicity versus Symmetry in Pt, Ni and Co-based Half Heusler Alloys: A First-principles Calculation