Eur. Phys. J. B (2012) 85: 250
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2012-20881-0

Regular Article

Tuning Fermi level within half-metallic gap in Co-based Heusler alloys

¹ College of Electronic Science Engineering, Nanjing University of Post & Telecommunication, Nanjing 211106, P.R. China
² Department of Physics & Institute for Nanophysics and Rare-Earth Luminescence, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, Hunan, P.R. China

^a e-mail: jxcao@xtu.edu.cn
^b e-mail: jwding@njupt.edu.cn

Received: 29 October 2011
Received in final form: 20 May 2012
Published online: 23 July 2012

Abstract

We systematically study the tuning of Fermi level in half-metal gap for Co-based full-Heusler alloys in the frame of first-principles calculations. It is found that the position of the Fermi level within whole gap can be specified in compounds Co₂MnZ¹_1-x Z²_x (Z¹ and Z² are the III, IV or V main group element). As one of examples, Co₂MnAl doped by As is further explored in detail, of which the Fermi level falls into the expectative position of the minority spin gap at proper concentration of As doping (0.5 < x < 0.75). This can effectively suppress the so-called spin-flip excitation and promise a good candidate for spintronics application.