Towards half-metallic interfaces: the Co${}_2$CrAl/InP contacts

Abstract

Although the interest on half-metallic Heusler alloys, susceptible to be used in spintronic applications, has considerably grown, their interfaces with semiconductors show very low spin-polarization. I identify mechanisms which can keep the high spin-polarization at the interface (more than 80% of the electrons at the Fermi level are of majority spin) although the half-metallicity is lost. The large enhancement of the Cr moment at the interface between a CrAl terminated Co${}_2$CrAl(001) spacer and the InP(001) semiconductor weakens the effect of the interface states resulting in this high spin-polarization. On the other hand the Co${}_2$CrAl/InP interfaces made up by a Co layer and either an In or a P one show a severe decrease of the Co spin moment but Cr in the subinterface layer is bulklike and the resulting spin-polarization is similar to the CrAl-based interfaces.

+ the Co/P and Co/In interfaces

References in corpus (2)

• Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications
• Multilayers of Zinc-Blende Half-Metals with Semiconductors

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Introduction to half-metallic Heusler alloys: Electronic Structure and Magnetic Properties
• Spin-polarization and electronic properties of half-metallic Heusler alloys calculated from first-principles
• Half-metallic ferromagnets for magnetic tunnel junctions
• Influence of mixing the low-valent transition metal atoms (Y,Y${}^{\ast }$=Cr,Mn,Fe) on the properties of the quaternary Co${}_2$[Y${}_{1-x}$Y${}_x^{\ast }$]Z (Z=Al,Ga,Si,Ge,Sn) Heusler compounds
• Doping and disorder in the Co${}_2$MnAl and Co${}_2$MnGa half-metallic Heusler alloys
• Interface properties of the NiMnSb/InP and NiMnSb/GaAs contacts
• A review of the electronic and magnetic properties of tetrahedrally bonded half-metallic ferromagnets
• Engineering the electronic, magnetic and gap-related properties of the quinternary half-metallic Heusler alloys
• Role of defects and disorder in the half-metallic full-Heusler compounds