Stability of ferromagnetism in the half-metallic pnictides and similar compounds: A first-principles study

Abstract

Based on first-principles electron structure calculations and employing the frozen-magnon approximation we study the exchange interactions in a series of transition-metal binary alloys crystallizing in the zinc-blende structure and calculate the Curie temperature within both the mean-field approximation (MFA) and random-phase approximation (RPA). We study two Cr compounds, CrAs and CrSe, and four Mn compounds: MnSi, MnGe, MnAs and MnC. MnC, MnSi and MnGe are isovalent to CrAs and MnAs is isoelectronic with CrSe. Ferromagnetism is particular stable for CrAs, MnSi and MnGe: All three compounds show Curie temperatures around 1000 K. On the other hand, CrSe and MnAs show a tendency to antiferromagnetism when compressing the lattice. In MnC the half-metallic gap is located in the majority-spin channel contrary to the other five compounds. The large half-metallic gaps, very high Curie temperatures, the stability of the ferromagnetism with respect to the variation of the lattice parameter and a coherent growth on semiconductors make MnSi and CrAs most promising candidates for the use in spintronics devises.

arXiv comment17 pages, 6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (16)

• Half-metallic ferromagnets: From band structure to many-body effects
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• Role of the conduction electrons in mediating exchange interactions in Heusler alloys
• Density-functional theory study of half-metallic heterostructures: interstitial Mn in Si
• 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
• Ab-initio calculation of the effective on-site Coulomb interaction parameters for half-metallic magnets
• 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
• First principles study of structural, magnetic and electronic properties of CrAs
• Defects in CrAs and related compounds: a route to half-metallic ferrimagnetism
• Ab-initio calculation of effective exchange interactions, spin waves, and Curie temperature in L2_1- and L1_2-type local moment ferromagnets
• Magnetic States and Electronic Properties of Manganese-Based Intermetallic Compounds Mn${}_2$YAl and Mn${}_3$Z (Y = V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni; Z = Al, Ge, Sn, Si, Pt)
• Influence of defects on the electronic and magnetic properties of half-metallic CrAs, CrSe and CrSb zinc-blende compounds
• Role of defects on the electronic and magnetic properties of CrAs/InAs and CrAs/CdSe half-metallic interfaces
• Importance of bond exchange in MnC structural stability and half-metallic ferromagnetism: a comprehensive density functional benchmark study