Ferromagnetic materials in the zinc-blende structure

Abstract

New materials are currently sought for use in spintronics applications. Ferromagnetic materials with half metallic properties are valuable in this respect. Here we present the electronic structure and magnetic properties of binary compounds consisting of 3d transition metals and group V elements viz. P, Sb and As in the zinc-blende structure. We demonstrate that compounds of V, Cr and Mn show half metallic behavior for appropriate lattice constants. By comparing the total energies in the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic structures, we have ascertained that the ferromagnetic phase is stable over the antiferromagnetic one. Of the different compounds studied, the Cr based systems exhibit the strongest interatomic exchange interactions, and are hence predicted to have the highest critical temperatures. Also, we predict that VAs under certain growth conditions should be a semiconducting ferromagnet. Moreover, critical temperatures of selected half metallic compounds have been estimated from mean field theory and Monte Carlo simulations using parameters obtained from a {\it ab-initio} non-collinear, tight binding linearized muffin-tin orbital method. From a simple model, we calculate the reflectance from an ideal MnAs/InAs interface considering the band structures of MnAs and InAs. Finally we present results on the relative stabilities of MnAs and CrSb compounds in the NiAs and zinc-blende structures, and suggest a parameter space in substrate lattice spacings for when the zinc-blende structure is expected to be stable.

7 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Unconventional carrier-mediated ferromagnetism above room temperature in ion-implanted (Ga, Mn)P:C
• Surface Half-Metallicity of CrAs in the Zinc-Blende Structure
• Exchange interactions and Curie temperature in (GaMn)As

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• Improved half-metallic ferromagnetism of transition-metal pnictides and chalcogenides calculated with a modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential
• Stability of ferromagnetism in the half-metallic pnictides and similar compounds: A first-principles study
• A review of the electronic and magnetic properties of tetrahedrally bonded half-metallic ferromagnets
• 3d-electron induced magnetic phase transition in half-metallic semi-Heusler alloys
• First principles theoretical studies of half-metallic ferromagnetism in CrTe
• Above-room-temperature ferromagnetism in half-metallic Heusler compounds NiCrP, NiCrSe, NiCrTe and NiVAs: A first-principles study
• Model Hamiltonian parameters for half-metallic ferromagnets NiMnSb and CrO2
• Multilayers of Zinc-Blende Half-Metals with Semiconductors
• Half-metallic ferromagnetism induced by dynamic electron correlations in VAs
• Exchange interactions and Curie temperatures in Cr-based alloys in Zinc Blende structure: volume- and composition-dependence from first-principles calculations
• Spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy of half-metallic ferromagnets: Non-quasiparticle contributions
• Strain-induced half-metallic ferromagnetism in zinc blende CrP/MnP superlattice: First-principles study
• Breakdown of half-metallic ferromagnetism in zinc-blende II-V compounds
• Role of defects and disorder in the half-metallic full-Heusler compounds
• Observation of Exchange Bias in Antiferromagnetic Cr${}_{0.79}$Se due to the Coexistence of Itinerant Weak Ferromagnetism at Low-temperatures
• Theoretical study of structure and magnetism of Ga${}_{1-x}$V${}_x$Sb compounds for spintronic applications