• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.8-11
• /
• 2006

Recently half-metallic full-Heusler alloy films have attracted significant interests for spintronics devices. As these alloys have been known to have a high spin polarization, very large TMR ratio is expected in magnetic tunnel junctions. Among these alloys, $Co_2MnSi$ full-Heusler alloy with a high spin polarization and a high Curie temperature is considered a good candidate as an electrode material for spintronic devices. In this study, the magnetic and structural properties of $Co_2MnSi$ Heusler alloy films were investigated. TMR characteristics of magnetic tunnel junctions with a $Co_2MnSi/SiO_2/CoFe$ structure were studied. A maximum MR ratio of 39% with $SiO_2$ substrates and 27% with MgO(100) substrates were obtained. The lower MR ratio than expectation is considered due to off-stoichiometry and atomic disorder of $Co_2MnSi$ electrode together with oxidation of the electrode layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 1994.02a
• /
• pp.50-50
• /
• 1994

Half-metallic Heusler alloys (NiMnSb, ppdMnSb, pptMnSb) have attracted much attention due to their unique electronic and magnetic structures. Sppin-ppolarized band structure calculation ppredicts metallic behavior for the majority sppin states and semiconductor behavior for the minority sppin states. We have studied the electronic structures of these half-metallic Heusler alloys by core-level pphotoemission sppectroscoppy of Mn 2pp and 3s XppS sppectra. We found large intensities of Mn 2pp satellites and 3s exchange spplitting comppared with other metal Mn-alloys. These satellite structure can be understood by applying Anderson imppurity model. This fact supports the calculated sppin pprojected ppartial density of states which suggests that the valence electrons be highly sppin ppolarized near Fermi level and that the electrons involved with charge-transfer be mainly minority sppin ones which have semiconducting band structure. The trend of charge transfer energies Δ from ligands (Sb 5pp) to Mn 3d, obtained from our model fitting, is consistent with that calculated from sppin pprojected ppartial density of state. Also the trend of d-d electron correlation energies U calculated from Mn Auger line L3 VV by Mg $K\alpha$ source is comppatible with that resulted from our model fitting. We fitted the Mn 3s curve in the same way as for insulating Mn comppounds by using the same pparameters calculated from Mn 2pp curve fitting exceppt for the Coulomb interaction energy Q between core hole and d-electrons. The 3s sppectra were analyzed by combing the charge transfer model and a simpple model taking into account the configuration mixing effect due to the intra-shell correlation. We found that the exchange interaction between 3s hole and 3d electrons is mainly respponsible for the satellite of Mn 3s sppectra. This is consistent with the neutron scattering data, which suggests local 3d magnetic moment. We find that the XppS analysis results of Mn 2pp and 3s satellite structures of half-metallic Heusler alloys are very similar to those of insulating transition metal comppounds.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
• /
• v.73 no.9
• /
• pp.1370-1376
• /
• 2018

The electronic structures, magnetic properties and half-metallicity in $Zr_2RuZ$ (Z = Ga, In, Tl, Ge, Sn, and Pb) alloys with $AlCu_2Mn-$ and $CuHg_2Ti$-type structures were investigated using first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The calculations showed that $Zr_2RuIn$, $Zr_2RuTl$, $Zr_2RuSn$, and $Zr_2RuPb$ compounds with $CuHg_2Ti$-type structures were half-metallic ferromagnets with half-metallic band gaps of 0.18, 0.24, 0.22, and 0.27 eV, respectively. The half-metallicity originated from d-d and covalent hybridizations between the transition metals Zr and Ru. The total magnetic moments of the $Zr_2RuZ$ (Z = In, Tl, Sn, and Pb) compounds with $CuHg_2Ti$-type structures were integer values of $1{\mu}B$ and $2{\mu}B$, which is in agreement with Slater-Pauling rule ($M_{tot}=Z_{tot}-18$). Among these compounds, $Zr_2RuIn$ and $Zr_2RuTl$ were half-metals over relatively wide regions of the lattice constants, indicating that these two new Heusler alloys are ideal candidates for use in spintronic devices.

• Electronic Materials Letters
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.725-732
• /
• 2018

The thermoelectric and transport properties of Ti-doped FeVSb half-Heusler alloys were studied in this study. $FeV_{1-x}Ti_xSb$ (0.1 < x < 0.5) half-Heusler alloys were synthesized by mechanical alloying process and subsequent vacuum hot pressing. After vacuum hot pressing, a near singe phase with a small fraction of second phase was obtained in this experiment. Investigation of microstructure revealed that both grain and particle sizes were decreased on doping which would influence on thermal conductivity. No foreign elements pick up from the vial was seen during milling process. Thermoelectric properties were investigated as a function of temperature and doping level. The absolute value of Seebeck coefficient showed transition from negative to positive with increasing doping concentrations ($x{\geq}0.3$). Electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and power factor increased with the increasing amount of Ti contents. The lattice thermal conductivity decreased considerably, possibly due to the mass disorder and grain boundary scattering. All of these turned out to increase in power factor significantly. As a result, the thermoelectric figure of merit increased comprehensively with Ti doping for this experiment, resulting in maximum thermoelectric figure of merit for $FeV_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}Sb$ at 658 K.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
• /
• 2009.12a
• /
• pp.92-92
• /
• 2009

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.582-588
• /
• 2019

FeVSb1-xTex (0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) half-Heusler alloys were fabricated by mechanical alloying process and subsequent vacuum hot pressing. Near single half-Heusler phases are formed in vacuum hot pressed samples but a second phase of FeSb2 couldn't be avoided. After doping, the lattice thermal conductivity in the system was shown to decrease with increasing Te concentration and with increasing temperature. The lowest thermal conductivity was achieved for FeVSb0.94Te0.06 sample at about 657 K. This considerable reduction of thermal conductivities is attributed to the increased phonon scattering enhanced by defect structure, which is formed by doping of Te at Sb site. The phonon scattering might also increase at grain boundaries due to the formation of fine grain structure. The Seebeck coefficient increased considerably as well, consequently optimizing the thermoelectric figure of merit to a peak value of ~0.24 for FeVSb0.94Te0.06. Thermoelectric properties of various Te concentrations were investigated in the temperature range of around 300~973 K.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.21 no.10
• /
• pp.542-545
• /
• 2011

Half-Heusler alloys are a potential thermoelectric material for use in high-temperature applications. In an attempt to produce half-Heusler thermoelectric materials with fine microstructures, TiCoSb was synthesized by the mechanical alloying of stoichiometric elemental powder compositions and then consolidated by vacuum hot pressing. The phase transformations during the mechanical alloying and hot consolidation process were investigated using XRD and SEM. A single-phase, half- Heusler allow was successfully produced by the mechanical alloying process, but a minor portion of the second phase of the CoSb formation was observed after the vacuum hot pressing. The thermoelectric properties as a function of the temperature were evaluated for the hot-pressed specimens. The Seebeck coefficients in the test range showed negative values, representing n-type conductivity, and the absolute value was found to be relatively low due to the existence of the second phase. It is shown that the electrical conductivity is relatively high and that the thermal conductivities are compatibly low in MA TiCoSb. The maximum ZT value was found to be relatively low in the test temperature range, possibly due to the lower Seebeck coefficient. The Hall mobility value appeared to be quite low, leading to the lower value of Seebeck coefficient. Thus, it is likely that the single phase produced by mechanical alloying process will show much higher ZT values after an excess Ti addition. It is also believed that further property enhancement can be obtained if appropriate dopants are selectively introduced into this MA TiCoSb System.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
• /
• 2008.12a
• /
• pp.12.1-12.1
• /
• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.25-25
• /
• 2009

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2004.02a
• /
• pp.70-70
• /
• 2004