Structural stability, magnetic and electronic properties of Co2MnSi(001)/MgO heterostructures: A density functional theory study

Abstract

A computational study of the epitaxial Co2MnSi(001)/MgO(001) interface relevant to tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) devices is presented. Employing ab initio atomistic thermodynamics, we show that the Co- or MnSi-planes of bulk-terminated Co2MnSi form stable interfaces, while pure Si or pure Mn termination requires non-equilibrium conditions. Except for the pure Mn interface, the half-metallic property of bulk Co2MnSi is disrupted by interface bands. Even so, at homogeneous Mn or Co interfaces these bands contribute little to the minority-spin conductance through an MgO barrier, and hence such terminations could perform strongly in TMR devices.

4 pages, 3 figs

References in corpus (3)

• Half-metallic ferromagnets for magnetic tunnel junctions
• Non-quasiparticle states in Co${}_2$MnSi evidenced through magnetic tunnel junction spectroscopy measurements
• Thermodynamics of the Heusler alloy Co_2-xMn_1+xSi: a combined density functional theory and cluster expansion study

Cited by in corpus (5)

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• Ab initio Prediction of Mechanical, Electronic, Magnetic and Transport Properties of Bulk and Heterostructure of a Novel Fe-Cr based Full Heusler Chalcogenide
• Formation of Mn-rich interfacial phases in Co2FexMn1-xSi thin films
• IrCrMnZ (Z=Al, Ga, Si, Ge) Heusler alloys as electrode materials for MgO-based magnetic tunneling junctions: A first-principles study