Ab initio design of quaternary Heusler compounds for reconfigurable magnetic tunnel diodes and transistors

Abstract

Reconfigurable magnetic tunnel diodes and transistors are a new concept in spintronics. The realization of such a device requires the use of materials with unique spin-dependent electronic properties such as half-metallic magnets (HMMs) and spin-gapless semiconductors (SGSs). Quaternary Heusler compounds offer a unique platform to design within the same family of compounds HMMs and SGSs with similar lattice constants to make coherent growth of the consecutive spacers of the device possible. Employing state-of-the-art first-principles calculations, we scan the quaternary Heusler compounds and identify suitable candidates for these spintronic devices combining the desirable properties: (i) HMMs with sizable energy gap or SGSs with spin gaps both below and above the Fermi level, (ii) high Curie temperature, (iii) convex hull energy distance less than 0.20 eV, and (iv) negative formation energies. Our results pave the way for the experimental realization of the proposed magnetic tunnel diodes and transistors.

arXiv comment13 pages, 9 figures

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Prediction of half-metallicity and spin-gapless semiconducting behavior in the new series of FeCr-based quaternary Heusler alloys: an ab initio study
• Half-Metal Spin-Gapless Semiconductor Junctions as a Route to the Ideal Diode
• Multifunctional steep-slope spintronic transistors with spin-gapless-semiconductor or spin-gapped-metal electrodes
• First principles design of Ohmic spin diodes based on quaternary Heusler compounds