• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.97-102
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• 2007

We have investigated the electronic structures and magnetism of a full Heusler alloy $Co_2CrGa(001)$ surface by using the all-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). We considered two types of different terminations: the Co-terminated (Co-Term) and the CrGa-terminated (CrGa-Term) surfaces. From the calculated layer-projected density of states (LDOS), we found that the surface of the CrGa-Term shows nearly half-metallic character while that of the Co-Term is far from the half-metallic. For the Co-Term, the surface Co atom moves down to the bulk region by $0.05{\AA}A$, while the subsurface Cr and Ga atoms move up to the surface layer by 0.05 and $0.01{\AA}$, respectively. For the CrGa-Term, there is a large inward relaxation of the surface Ga atom $(0.07{\AA})$, but the relaxation of the surface Cr atom is very small $(0.01{\AA})$. The relaxations affect not much to the overall shapes of DOS for both terminations, but make the surface states of the surface Cr and Ga atoms for the CrGa-Term shift to higher energy that enhances the nearly half-metallic character of the CrGa-Term. The magnetic moments of the surface $Cr(2.98{\mu}_B)$ in the CrGa-Term and the surface $Co(1.17{\mu}_B)$ in the Co-Term were much increased compared to those of the inner-layers $(1.79\;and\;0.77{\mu}_B)$, respectively, while that of the subsurface Cr atom in the Co-Term was decreased to $1.19{\mu}_B$.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.163-167
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• 2008

The electronic structure and magnetism of superlattice systems consisted of Heusler compound $Co_2MnSi$ (CMS) and zinc-blende MnAs (MA) are investigated by means of the all-electron full potential linearized augmented plane wave method within the generalized gradient approximation. Four superlattice systems are considered, that is CMS(m)/MA(n), where m and n, being either 2 or 4, denote the number of alternatingly arrayed layers of the compounds in a superlattice along [001] direction. From the calculated total magnetic moments as well as the total density of states, it is found that neither of the four systems is half-metallic. It is also found that the Mn atoms are antiferromagnetically coupled in the systems of CMS2/MA2 and CMS2/MA4. The total and atom-resolved density of states of the four superlattices are compared with those of the bulk $Co_2MnSi$ and MnAs, and the influences of the change in the systems symmetry on the magnetism and half-metallicity are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.135.1-135.1
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• 2007

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1190-1195
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• 2018

By employing soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and photoemission spectroscopy (PES), we have investigated the electronic structure of the candidate zero-moment half-metallic $Mn_3Ga$. We have studied the ball-milled and annealed $Mn_3Ga$ powder samples that exhibit nearly zero magnetization. Mn 2p XAS revealed that Mn ions in $Mn_3Ga$ are nearly divalent for both of the Mn ions having the locally octahedral symmetry and those having the locally tetrahedral symmetry. The measured Mn 2p XMCD spectrum of $Mn_3Ga$ is very similar to that of ferrimagnetic $MnFe_2O_4$ having divalent Mn ions. The sum-rule analysis of the Mn 2p XMCD spectrum shows that both the spin and orbital magnetic moments of Mn ions in $Mn_3Ga$ are negligibly small, in agreement with the nearly compensated-ferrimagnetic ground state of $Mn_3Ga$. The valence-band PES spectrum of $Mn_3Ga$ agrees well with the calculated density of states, supporting the half-metallic electronic structure of $Mn_3Ga$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.75-85
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• 2017

Thermoelectric is a key technology for energy harvesting and solid-state cooling by direct thermal-to-electric energy conversion (or vice versa); however, the relatively low efficiency has limited thermoelectric systems to niche applications such as space power generation and small-scale or high-density cooling. To expand into larger scale power generation and cooling applications such as ATEG (automotive thermoelectric generators) and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), high-performance bulk thermoelectric materials and their low-cost processing are essential prerequisites. Recently, the performance of commercial thermoelectric materials including $Bi_2Te_3$-, PbTe-, skutterudite-, and half-Heusler-based compounds has been significantly improved through non-equilibrium processing technologies for defect engineering. This review summarizes material design approaches for the formation of multi-dimensional and multi-scale defect structures that can be used to manipulate both the electronic and thermal transport properties, and our recent progress in the synthesis of conventional thermoelectric materials with defect structures is described.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.147-151
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• 2007

We have investigated the half-metallicity and magnetism for the Heusler ferromagnet $Co_2$ZrSi interfaced with semiconductor ZnTe along the (001) plane by using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method. We considered low types of possible interfaces: ZrSi/Zn, ZrSi/Te, Co/Zn, and Co/Te, respectively. From the calculated density of states, it was found that the half-metallicity was lost at all the interfaces, however for the Co/Te system the value of minority spin density of states was close to zero at the Fermi level. These facts are due to the interface states, appeared in the minority spin gap in bulk $Co_2$ZrSi, caused by the changes of the coordination and symmetry and the hybridizations between the interface atoms. At the Co/Te interface, the magnetic moments of Co atoms are 0.68 and $0.78{\mu}_B$ for the "bridge" and "antibridge" sites, respectively, which are much reduced with respect to that ($1.15{\mu}_B$) of the bulk $Co_2$ZrSi. In the case of Co/Zn, Co atoms at the "bridge" and "antibridge" sites have magnetic moments of 1.16 and $0.93{\mu}_B$, respectively, which are almost same or slightly decreased compared to that of the bulk $Co_2$ZrSi. On the other hand, for the ZrSi/Zn and ZrSi/Te systems, the magnetic moments of Co atoms at the sub-interface layers are in the range of $1.13{\sim}1.30\;{\mu}_B$, which are almost same or slightly increased than that of the bulk $Co_2$ZrSi.