First-principles prediction of half-metallic ferromagnetism in Cd(TM)O2 (TM=Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) compounds

We report the electronic structure of Cd(TM)O₂ (TM=Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) in the chalcopyrite structures. From this study we find that Cd(TM)O₂ is a half-metallic ferromagnetic compound. From the energy consideration we find that Cd(TM)O₂ is more stable in chalcopyrite structure rather than in rock salt structure. A careful analysis of the spin density reveals the ferromagnetic coupling between the p-d states and the cation dangling-bond p states, which is believed to be responsible for the stabilization of the ferromagnetic phase. The calculated heat of formation, bulk modulus and cohesive energy are reported.     

Antiferromagnetic and semiconducting material CrNCN: Prediction from first-principles investigation

The structural stability and physical properties of CrNCN were studied using density functional theory with explicit electronic correlation (GGA+U). Calculated results indicate that the title compound, similar to MNCN (M=Mn, Fe, Co, Ni), is thermodynamically stable but mechanically unstable. Analysis of electronic and magnetic structures reveals that CrNCN is an antiferromagnetic semiconductor. However, the exact magnetic structure of CrNCN consists of an antiferromagnetic intralayer and a ferromagnetic interlayer, which differs from that of the type-II antiferromagnetic semiconductor MNCN (M=Mn, Fe, Co, Ni), which consists of a ferromagnetic intralayer and an antiferromagnetic interlayer.     

First-principles study on the electronic structures of iron phthalocyanine monolayer

The electronic band structure and magnetic properties of iron phthalocyanine (FePc) monolayer were investigated by using the first-principles all-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane wave energy band method. It is found that the ferromagnetic FePc monolayer is energetically more stable than the paramagnetic one. The exchange interaction, which splits the majority and minority bands, influences strongly on the electronic structure near the Fermi level (E_F). Magnetic moment of the central Fe atom is calculated to 1.95 μ_B. The range of the positive polarization of Fe site is larger in the out-of-plane than in the in-plane direction. The FePc ligand remains paramagnetic. The presence of states at E_F indicates the metallic character of FePc monolayer both for the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic states. However, the large density of states at E_F of the majority spins in the ferromagnetic state is expected to cause a phase transition to insulating antiferromagnetic state from the metallic ferromagnetic one.     

Electronic structure and magnetic coupling properties of EuFe2P2: First-principles calculations

We have investigated the electronic structure and magnetic properties of EuFe₂P₂ using first-principles density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA)+U schemes. Our calculated ground state magnetic configurations of EuFe₂P₂ is ferromagnetic which Eu²⁺ spins order along c axis. We argue that this kind of magnetic structure of Eu is determined by the indirect RKKY interactions between Eu and direct coupling interaction between Eu 4f with Fe 3d state by our spin-polarized density of states calculations. From the charge density and the Laplace charge density of EuFe₂P₂, we believe that the magnetic moment of Fe is determined by not only Fe-P coupling interactions but also Fe-Fe directly exchange interactions.     

Fe_9Si的电子结构及铁磁性质的第一性原理研究

采用第一性原理的密度泛函理论(Density Functional Theory)赝势平面波方法,对Fe_9Si的电子结构和铁磁性质进行理论计算.计算结果表明:(1)Fe_9Si具有负的形成热-0.1094 eV/atom,结合能5.124eV/atom,表明Fe_9Si合金具有强结合力和结构稳定性;(2)Fe_9Si具有典型的金属能带特征,穿过Fermi能级的能带最主要是Fe的3d态电子的贡献,其次是来自Si的3p态电子的贡献.结合键不是单一金属键,而是金属键和共价键组成的混合键;(3)Fe_9Si的铁磁性主要来自Fe原子的未满层壳的3d态电子的自旋.计算结果为Fe_9Si铁磁性材料的设计与应用提供了理论依据.     

Fe9Si的电子结构及铁磁性质的第一性原理研究

采用第一性原理的密度泛函理论（Density Functional Theory）赝势平面波方法, 对Fe9Si的电子结构和铁磁性质进行理论计算。 计算结果表明： (1) Fe9Si具有负的形成热-0.1094 eV/atom, 结合能5.124 eV/atom, 表明Fe9Si合金具有强结合力和结构稳定性; (2) Fe9Si具有典型的金属能带特征, 穿过Fermi能级的能带最主要是Fe的3d态电子的贡献, 其次是来自Si的3p态电子的贡献。 结合键不是单一金属键, 而是金属键和共价键组成的混合键; (3) Fe9Si的铁磁性主要来自Fe原子的未满层壳的3d态电子的自旋。 计算结果为Fe9Si铁磁性材料的设计与应用提供了理论依据。     

Electronic structure and magnetism of disordered bcc Fe alloys

We study the electronic structure and magnetic properties of disordered bcc Co_xFe_1-x, Cr_xFe_1-x and Mn_xFe_1-x alloys in their ferromagnetic phases using the Augmented Space Recursion (ASR) technique coupled with the tight-binding linearized muffin tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method. We calculate the density of states and magnetic moment of these alloys to show the variation upon alloying Fe with the other neighbouring 3d transition metals using arguments based on charge transfer, exchange splitting and hybridization effects. Received 10 April 2001 and Received in final form 15 August 2001     

Ab initio calculations of magnetic structure and lattice dynamics of Fe/Pt multilayers

The magnetization distribution, its energetic characterization by the interlayer coupling constants and lattice dynamics of (001)-oriented Fe/Pt multilayers are investigated using density functional theory combined with the direct method to determine phonon frequencies. It is found that ferromagnetic order between consecutive Fe layers is favoured, with the enhanced magnetic moments at the interface. The bilinear and biquadratic coupling coefficients between Fe layers are shown to saturate fast with increasing thickness of nonmagnetic Pt layers which separate them. The phonon calculations demonstrate a rather strong dependence of partial iron phonon densities of states on the actual position of Fe monolayer in the multilayer structure.     

Electronic structure of disordered Pd3Fe

The electronic structure of disordered Pd₃Fe is studied within an almost self-consistent KKR-CPA procedures. Our starting point are the self-consistent potentials for the ordered ferromagnetic Pd₃Fe obtained by the LMTO method. We perform the ferromagnetic calculation and examine the influence of disorder on the electronic structure of this alloy through the analysis of the Bloch spectral functions and densities of states and compare our results with experiment. We also propose a mechanism for the formation of magnetic moments in ferromagnetic alloys.     

On the origin of surface states in a correlated local-moment film

The electronic quasiparticle structure of a ferromagnetic local moment film is investigated within the framework of the s-f model. For the special case of a single electron in an otherwise empty energy band being exchange coupled to a fully ordered localised spin system the problem can be solved exactly and, for the spin- electron, some marked correlation effects can be found. We extend our model to incorporate the influence of the surface on the electronic structure. Therefore we modify the hopping integrals in the vicinity of the surface. This leads to the existence of surface states, both for the spin- and the spin- spectral density of states. The interplay between the modification of the hopping integrals and the existence of surface states and correlation effects is discussed in detail. Received: 22 September 1997 / Revised: 12 December 1997 / Accepted: 15 December 1997     

A First-Principles Investigation of the Structural and Magnetic Stability of Fe/GaAs(001)

The electronic properties of the interface of Fe/GaAs(001) have been investigated by using first-principles and molecular-dynamics techniques. While the ground state is ferromagnetic for all structures considered, a ferrimagnetic spin structure is found to be very close in energy (<1 meV). The observed lowering of the magnetic moments when relaxing the atomic positions is believed to be connected to this close in energy lying metamagnetic state. On the other hand, the magnetic moments of the Fe atoms at the interface are large, which can be explained by the bulk-like behavior of the density ot states of interface atoms.     

First principles study on the electronic structure of the two chain compounds of [ M(N3)2(HCOO)][(CH3)2NH2] (M=Fe and Co)

First principles calculations have been performed to study the electronic structure and the ferromagnetic properties on the two chain compounds of [M(N₃)₂(HCOO)][(CH₃)₂NH₂] (M=Fe and Co). The relative stability of the ground state, the density of states and the electronic band structure are examined. The results reveal that antiferromagnetism (AFM) state is the ground state and ferromagnetism (FM) state is the metastable one for both of them. The two compounds exhibit semiconductor character with small gap in the FM state, while metallic in the AFM state. In the FM state, the magnetic moments mainly arise from the Fe and Co ions with little contribution from the nearest-neighboring N and O atoms due to the hybridization between the Fe or Co 3d states and the nearest-neighboring N and O 2p states.     

Interactions of Fe atom with single wall armchair SiC nanotubes: an ab initio study

A systematic study of Fe atom encapsulation and adsorption in armchair SiC nanotubes (SiCNT) with diameters in the range of 5.313 to 10.582 Å has been performed using hybrid density functional theory and a finite cluster approximation. A detailed comparison of the binding energies, equilibrium positions, Mulliken charges, and spin magnetic moments of Fe atoms has been performed for three types of nanotubes. The electronic states, HOMO–LUMO gaps, and changes in gaps with respect to the bare nanotube gaps have been investigated as well. Our results show that the properties of SiCNT can be modified by Fe atom encapsulation and adsorption. Binding energies of the encapsulated and adsorbed systems indicate that these structures are stable and show site dependence. For both cases a significant band gap decrease is observed for type 1 nanotubes enabling band gap tailoring. This decrease is not observed for the other two types with a larger diameter. All structures are found to have magnetic ground states with high magnetic moments indicating the possibility of them being used in spintronics applications.     

Modified gap states in Fe/MgO/SrTiO3 interfaces studied with scanning tunneling microscopy

The geometric and electronic structures of Fe islands on MgO film layers were studied with scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The MgO layers were grown on a Nb-doped single crystal SrTiO₃ (100) surface. Deposited Fe atoms aggregate into islands, the height and diameter of which are about 2.5 and 9.4 nm respectively. Fe islands modify the electronic structure of MgO surface; a ring type depression in the scanning tunneling microscope topography appears by lowered local electron density of states around Fe islands. We find that adsorbed Fe atoms reduce the gap states of MgO layers around Fe islands, which is attributed to the reason for the depletion of the electronic density of states.     

Formation and ordering of local magnetic moments in Fe–Al alloys

The density functional theory is used to study the local magnetic moments in Fe–Al alloys depending on concentration (from 29 to 44 at% Al) and the Fe nearest environment. We have found three different solutions for the system: a spin-spiral wave (SSW) which has a minimum energy and two collinear states, a ferromagnetic one and a state with both positive and negative Fe magnetic moments (the Fe atoms with many neighboring Al atoms around them have negative magnetic moments, while the other Fe atoms—positive). Both the SSW and the negative Fe moments agree with the experiments. Magnetization curves taken from the literature are analyzed. The assumption of percolation character of the size distribution of magnetic clusters describes well the experimental superparamagnetic behavior above 150 K.     

Vacancy cluster-limited electronic transport in metallic carbon nanotube

We investigate the electronic properties of metallic (7,7) carbon nanotubes (CNT) in the presence of a variety of tetra- and hexa-vacancy defects, by using the first principles density functional theory (DFT) combined with the non-equilibrium Green’s function technique. From the view point of energetic stability large vacancies tend to split into pentagon and heptagon (5-7) defects. However, this does not preclude the presence of “holes” in the carbon nanotube by the nanoelectronic lithography technique. We show that the states linked to large vacancies hybridize with the extended states of the nanotubes to modify their band structure. As a consequence, the hole-like defects in the CNT lead to more prominent electronic transport compared to the situation in the defective CNT consisting of pentagon-heptagon pair defects. Our study suggests the possibility to improve the electronic properties of a defective carbon nanotube via morphological modifications induced by irradiation techniques.     

Electronic quasiparticle structure of ferromagnetic bcc iron

We investigate the influence of electron correlations on the temperature-dependence of the electronic structure of ferromagnetic bcc iron by use of a manybody evaluation of a generalized model of magnetism. The single-particle part of the model-Hamiltonian is taken from an LDA band structure calculation. The manybody interactions are described by only two parameters, an intraband Coulomb interactionU and an interband exchangeJ. WithU=1.8 eV andJ=0.2 eV the self-consistent model solution yields aT=0 moment of about 2.04 µ_B and a Curie-temperature of 1044K. Details of the magnetic behaviour of Fe can be traced back to a striking temperature variation of the quasiparticle density of states. A novel explanation for the experimentally-observed non-collapsing exchange splitting is demonstrated in terms of the temperature-dependent spectral density for wave-vectors near the -point. Typical differences in the magnetic behaviour of Fe and Ni are worked out.     

Frontier orbitals analysis and density-functional energetics for metal-substituted fullerene C58Fe2

The formation mechanism, geometric structures, and electronic properties of a metal-substituted fullerene C₅₈Fe₂ have been studied using frontier orbital theory (FOT) and density functional theory (DFT). FOT predicts that two Fe atoms prefer to substitute the two carbons of a [6,6] double bond of C₆₀ yielding a structure denoted as C₅₈Fe₂-3, which is different from the two equivalent substitution sites, i.e., the sites on the opposite of C₆₀ cage or in the nearest neighboring sites of a pentagonal ring for C₅₈X₂ (X=N and B), and also different from the cross sites of a hexagonal ring for C₅₈Si₂. Five possible structures of C₅₈Fe₂ are optimized using DFT to see whether FOT works. The DFT calculations support the prediction of FOT. The Mulliken charge of Fe atom in C₅₈Fe₂-3 shows that the two Fe atoms of C₅₈Fe₂-3 lose 0.70 electron to the carbons of the cage, and the net spin populations of Fe atom indicate that each Fe atom has 1.11 μ_B magnetic moments, while each of the four nearest neighboring carbons has magnetic moments. Thus, the two Fe atoms have ferromagnetic interaction with each other, and have weak antiferromagnetic interaction with their four nearest neighboring carbons, leaving 2.0 μ_B magnetic moments for the molecule.     

Magnetism of Fe,Co, and Ni nanowires encapsulated in carbon nanotubes

We have investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe, Co, and Ni nanowires encapsulated in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using spin polarized ab initio calculation. The incorporated systems with hollow region between the nanowire and the C shell have the enhanced magnetic moments compared to the ferromagnetic nanowires tightly wrapped by CNTs. The Co nanowire encapsulated in CNTs is a strong ferromagnet and has high spin polarization regardless of the distance between the nanowire and the C shell. The results show that the Co-filled CNTs are useful for spin polarized transport nanodevice.     

Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the 3d transition metal-doped GaN nanotubes

We have performed first-principles calculations on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of seven different 3d transition-metal (TM) impurity (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu) doped armchair (5,0) and zigzag (8,0) gallium nitride nanotubes (GaNNTs). The results show that there is distortion around 3d TM impurities with respect to the pristine GaNNTs for 3d TM-doped (5,5) and (8,0) GaNNTs. The change of total magnetic moment follows Hund’s rule for 3d TM-doped (5,5) and (8,0) GaNNTs, respectively. The total density of states (DOS) indicates that Cr-, Mn-, Fe- and Ni-doped (5,5) GaNNTs as well as Cr-, Mn-, Ni- and Cu-doped (8,0) GaNNTs are all half-metals with 100% spin polarization. The study suggests that such TM-doped nanotubes may be useful in spintronics and nanomagnets.