Regensburg 2022 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 42: Magnetic Heuslers

MA 42.1: Vortrag

Freitag, 9. September 2022, 11:30–11:45, H48

First-principles study of magnetic tunnel junctions based on half-metallic and spin-gapless semiconducting Heusler compounds: Reconfigurable diode and inverse TMR effect — •Thorsten Aull, Ersoy Sasioglu, and Ingrid Mertig — Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Physik, 06120 Halle (Saale)

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) based on half-metallic magnets (HMMs) and spin-gapless semiconductors (SGSs) exhibit unique properties, such as current rectification, i.e., diode effect, and reconfigurability in addition to a tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect [1]. We investigate from first-principles MTJs based on SGS and HMM quaternary Heusler compounds [2]. Our quantum transport calculations have demonstrated that these MTJs exhibit current rectification with high on/off ratios. Moreover, depending on the relative orientation of the magnetization of the electrodes, the MTJ allows the electrical current to pass either in one or the other direction, which leads to an inverse TMR effect. We show that, in contrast to conventional semiconductor diodes, the rectification bias voltage window of the MTJs is limited by the spin gap of the HMM and SGS Heusler compounds. The combination of nonvolatility, reconfigurable diode functionality, and high Curie temperatures of the electrode materials makes the proposed MTJs very promising for room temperature spintronic applications and opens new ways to magnetic memory and logic concepts.

[1] N. Maji and T. Nath, Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 072401 (2022).

[2] T. Aull et al., arXiv:2202.06752 (2022).