Robustness of the Half-Metallicity at the Interfaces in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"><mml:msub><mml:mi>Co</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>Mn</mml:mi><mml:mi>Si</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>-Based All-Full-Heusler-Alloy Spintronic Devices

Abstract

Based on first-principles methods, we demonstrate that it would be possible to design efficient all-full-Heusler-alloy-based spintronic devices associating ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{Si}$ electrodes and nonmagnetic full-Heusler-alloy spacers selected to preserve the half-metallicity of ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{Si}$ up to the interface atomic layers. We focus on the ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{Si}/{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}\mathrm{Ti}\mathrm{Si}$ magnetic tunnel junction, compare the stability range of its different interface terminations, and show that the half-metallicity of the ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}$/$\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{Si}$-terminated interface even withstands atomic intermixing. The robustness of the half-metallicity of this interface termination is also confirmed in ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{Mn}\mathrm{Si}/{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}\mathrm{V}\mathrm{Al}$ spin valves. With such interfaces, spintronic devices could possess very high magnetoresistive properties.

Topics & Concepts