Investigation of the Magnetic, Electronic and Structural Properties of Nickel, Cobalt, and Iron Thin Layers on Silicon (001) Substrate

In spintronic new science, the attempts have been focused on the use of spin of electron in addition to the electron charge to create a wider and new application for microelectronic components. Moreover, one of the main issues in the spintronic is finding the appropriate sources to produce and inject the bipolar spin current from a ferromagnetic substance into semiconductors, which is called spin-injection operation. Therefore, it is necessary to grow a thin ferromagnetic layer on the semiconductor.

Nowadays, the use of silicon substrates has been considered in the production of thin ferromagnetic layers such as cobalt, nickel, and iron (Ni-Co-Fe) layers. In this system, due to the electronegativity similarity of Ni-Co-Fe and silicon, there is a strong interaction between Ni-Co-Fe and silicon atoms. In the present study, Nickel, Cobalt and Iron layers were selected as ferromagnetic metals and silicon as a semiconductor substrate. 

The aim of this study is to find the optimal location of cobalt, nickel, and iron atoms on silicon and investigate magnetic properties. The calculations are based on the primary quantum principles and in the framework of the density functional theory (DFT). Kohn-Sham equations have been solved using full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) and wien2k software.