Quaternary metallic ferrimagnets based on antiferromagnetic semiconductor MnTe

We use an accurate full-potential density-functional method to systematically study MnTe-based quaternary magnetic compounds: Mn₆ZnAlTe₈, Mn₆ZnGaTe₈, Mn₆CdAlTe₈, and Mn₆CdGaTe₈. The co-substitution of group-II and group-III atoms for a quarter of Mn atoms changes the antiferromagnetic MnTe semiconductor into ferrimagnetic (FM) metal because the extra electron, introduced by the trivalent atom, as effective carrier makes Mn spins within nonmagnetic substitutional layers orient uniformly. Quite high spin polarization can be achieved for the electrons at the Fermi level in the co-substituted structures. This could make a novel approach to promising FM materials. The quaternary metallic ferrimagnets could have potential applications for spintronic devices.