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arXiv · 1109.6902

Cubic MnSb: epitaxial growth of a predicted room temperature half-metal

James D. Aldous·Christopher W. Burrows·Ana M. Sánchez·Richard Beanland·Ian Maskery·Matthew K. Bradley·Manuel dos Santos Dias·Julie B. Staunton·Gavin R. Bell
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Abstract

Epitaxial films including bulk-like cubic and wurtzite polymorphs of MnSb have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs via careful control of the Sb4/Mn flux ratio. Nonzero-temperature density functional theory was used to predict ab initio the spin polarization as a function of reduced magnetization for the half-metals NiMnSb and cubic MnSb. In both cases, half-metallicity is lost at a threshold magnetization reduction, corresponding to a temperature T*< Tc. This threshold is far higher for cubic MnSb compared to NiMnSb and corresponds to T* > 350K, making epitaxial cubic MnSb a promising candidate for room temperature spin injection into semiconductors.

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James D. Aldous, Christopher W. Burrows, Ana M. Sánchez, Richard Beanland, Ian Maskery, Matthew K. Bradley, Manuel dos Santos Dias, Julie B. Staunton, Gavin R. Bell. 2011-09-30. Cubic MnSb: epitaxial growth of a predicted room temperature half-metal. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.85.060403

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