Surface half-metallicity of CrS thin films and perfect spin filtering and spin diode effects of CrS/ZnSe heterostructure

Journal Article · Mon Nov 03 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4901173· OSTI ID:22310708

Gao, G. Y., E-mail: [e-mail]; Yao, K. L., E-mail: [e-mail] ^[1]

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1. School of Physics and Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

Recently, ferromagnetic zinc-blende Mn{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}S thin films (above x = 0.5) were fabricated experimentally on ZnSe substrate, which confirmed the previous theoretical prediction of half-metallic ferromagnetism in zinc-blende CrS. Here, we theoretically reveal that both Cr- and S-terminated (001) surfaces of the CrS thin films retain the half-metallicity. The CrS/ZnSe(001) heterogeneous junction exhibits excellent spin filtering and spin diode effects, which are explained by the calculated band structure and transmission spectra. The perfect spin transport properties indicate the potential applications of half-metallic CrS in spintronic devices. All computational results are obtained by using the density functional theory combined with nonequilibrium Green's function.

• OSTI ID: 22310708
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 18; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CHROMIUM SULFIDES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DENSITY FUNCTIONAL METHOD
ELECTRIC CONTACTS
FERROMAGNETISM
FILTERS
FORECASTING
MANGANESE COMPOUNDS
METALLICITY
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SPECTRA
SPIN
SUBSTRATES
SURFACES
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION
ZINC SELENIDES
ZINC SULFIDES