We report on first-principles calculations of multilayers of zinc-blende half-metallic ferromagnets CrAs and CrSb with III-V and II-VI semiconductors, in the [001] orientation. We examine the ideal and tetragonalised structures, as well as the case of an intermixed interface. We find that, as a rule, half-metallicity can be conserved throughout the heterostructures, provided that the character of the local coordination and bonding is not disturbed. At the interfaces with semiconductors, we describe a mechanism that can give also a non-integer spin moment per interface transition atom, and derive a simple rule to evaluate it.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0403650,
title = {Multilayers of Zinc-Blende Half-Metals with Semiconductors},
author = {Ph. Mavropoulos and I. Galanakis and P. H. Dederichs},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0403650},
year = {2009}
}