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Itinerant Semiconducting Antiferromagnetism in Metastable V 3 Ga
Author(s) -
He Bin,
Bao Zhidi,
Zhu Kun,
Feng Wuwei,
Sun Hua,
Pang Ning,
Tsogbadrakh Namsrai,
Odkhuu Dorj
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201900483
Subject(s) - antiferromagnetism , condensed matter physics , materials science , spintronics , ferromagnetism , density functional theory , metastability , atomic orbital , magnetic semiconductor , electron , chemistry , physics , computational chemistry , quantum mechanics , organic chemistry
Herein, a metastable phase of β‐W type V 3 Ga is identified to exhibit an itinerant semiconducting antiferromagnetism. Density functional theory plus Hubbard U (DFT+U) calculations predict the β‐W type structure as a possible metastable phase, although energetically less favorable than the previously known D0 3 phase, which is successfully synthesized with good crystallinity by alternating evaporation method with postannealing process rather than traditional coevaporation method. Such a metastable β‐W phase results in an antiferromagnetic (AFM) order up to at least 500 K and highly conductive semiconducting behavior. The antiferromagnetism in the β‐W type V 3 Ga can be understood in terms of strong Coulomb repulsion and Hund's rule coupling between the nearest neighbor V 3d orbital states and their covalent bonding with the Ga 4p orbitals. These results are further verified by an exchange bias phenomenon revealed in antiferro/ferromagnet hybrid heterostructure of V 3 Ga and Fe films, where the strong hybridization between Fe 3d and V 3d orbital states at the interface gives rise to the robust perpendicular magnetic anisotropy therein. Herein, a novel route is used to prepare an AFM semiconductor material for antiferromagnet spintronics.