Effect of stacking faults on the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of hcp Co: a first-principles study

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to analyze how different stacking faults influence the magnetocrystalline anisotropy in hexagonal cobalt, revealing that most faults decrease MAE except for certain types.

Contribution

It provides a detailed first-principles analysis of the impact of various stacking faults on the magnetic properties of hcp cobalt, including formation energies and MAE effects.

Findings

Intrinsic growth fault has the lowest formation energy.

Most stacking faults reduce the MAE of bulk Co.

Pair of growth faults have a synergic effect on MAE.

Abstract

In terms of the fully relativistic screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method we investigate the effect of stacking faults on the magnetic properties of hexagonal close-packed cobalt. In particular, we consider the formation energy and the effect on the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) of four different stacking faults in hcp cobalt -- an intrinsic growth fault, an intrinsic deformation fault, an extrinsic fault and a twin-like fault. We find that the intrinsic growth fault has the lowest formation energy, in good agreement with previous first-principles calculations. With the exception of the intrinsic deformation fault which has a positive impact on the MAE, we find that the presence of a stacking fault generally reduces the MAE of bulk Co. Finally, we consider a pair of intrinsic growth faults and find that their effect on the MAE is not additive, but synergic.