Effect of doping and disorder on the half-metallicity of full Heusler alloy

TL;DR

This study uses advanced electronic structure calculations to examine how doping and disorder influence the half-metallicity of Co and Mn-based Heusler alloys, revealing their robustness for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that doping with Fe or Cr and sublattice mixing minimally impact the half-metallicity, highlighting its stability in these alloys.

Findings

Doping with Fe or Cr scarcely affects half-metallicity.

Mixing Mn and sp atom sublattices maintains half-metallicity.

Half-metallicity is a robust property in these alloys.

Abstract

Heusler alloys containing Co and Mn are amongst the most heavily studied half-metallic ferromagnets for future applications in spintronics. Using state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations, we investigate the effect of doping and disorder on their electronic and magnetic properties. Small degrees of doping by substituting Fe or Cr for Mn scarcely affect the half-metallicity. A similar effect is also achieved by mixing the sublattices occupied by the Mn and sp atoms. Thus the half-metallicity is a robust property of these alloys.