Ab initio study of the interface properties of Fe/GaAs(110)

Abstract

We have investigated the initial growth of Fe on GaAs(110) by means of density functional theory. In contrast to the conventionally used (001)-surface the (110)-surface does not reconstruct. Therefore, a flat interface and small diffusion can be expected, which makes Fe/GaAs(110) a possible candidate for spintronic applications. Since experimentally, the actual quality of the interface seems to depend on the growth conditions, e.g., on the flux rate, we simulate the effect of different flux rates by different Fe coverages of the semiconductor surface. Systems with low coverages are highly diffusive. With increasing amount of Fe, i.e., higher flux rates, a flat interface becomes more stable. The magnetic structure strongly depends on the Fe coverage but no quenching of the magnetic moments is observed in our calculations.

9 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Basic obstacle for electrical spin-injection from a ferromagnetic metal into a diffusive semiconductor
• Theory of electrical spin injection: Tunnel contacts as a solution of the conductivity mismatch problem
• Ballistic Spin Injection from Fe(001) into ZnSe and GaAs
• First-principles study of nucleation, growth, and interface structure of Fe/GaAs
• First Principles Calculations of Fe on GaAs (100)
• Influence of interface structure on electronic properties and Schottky barriers in Fe/GaAs magnetic junctions

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