Faculty Publications

Electronic, Magnetic, And Structural Properties Of Crmnsb0.5Si0.5

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Half metals, Heusler alloys, DFT calculations, Spintronics, Thin films

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

Volume

553

Abstract

Half-metallic Heusler compounds are among the most actively studied materials for applications in spin-based devices. Largely, this is due to their higher Curie temperature compared with the other half-metallic compounds, and relative ease of fabrication. Here we theoretically study one such Heusler alloy CrMnSb0.5Si0.5. In particular, we demonstrate a potential stability of this compound by estimating its formation energy, its half-metallic electronic structure (stable under a considered range of biaxial strain), and ferrimagnetic alignment. The calculated Curie temperature of this material is 787 K, much higher than room temperature. At the same time, we have shown that in thin-film geometry the spin-polarization of this material is strongly reduced due to the emergence of surface states in the minority-spin energy gap. In addition, one of the considered termination surfaces is thermodynamically unstable, while the other is stable. The presented results may be useful for researchers working on practical applications in the field of spintronics.

Department

Department of Physics

Original Publication Date

7-1-2022

DOI of published version

10.1016/j.jmmm.2022.169267

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