Half-metallicity and efficient spin injection in AlN/GaN:Cr (0001) heterostructure

TL;DR

This study uses first-principles calculations to show that Cr-doped AlN/GaN heterostructures maintain half-metallicity, enabling highly efficient spin injection for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Cr segregates into GaN regions and the heterostructure preserves half-metallicity, allowing controlled spin injection through engineered AlGaN layers.

Findings

Cr segregates into GaN region

Heterostructures retain half-metallicity

Achieves 100% spin-polarized injection

Abstract

First-principles investigations of the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Cr-doped AlN/GaN (0001) heterostructures reveal that Cr segregates into the GaN region, that these interfaces retain their important half-metallic character and thus yield efficient (100 %) spin polarized injection from a ferromagnetic GaN:Cr electrode through an AlN tunnel barrier - whose height and width can be controlled by adjusting the Al concentration in the graded bandgap engineered Al(1-x)Ga(x)N (0001) layers.