Abstract
Half-metallic antiferromagnets have proven to be promising candidates for spintronic applications, since the zero net magnetization leads to low stray fields. Here, using a self-consistent DFT + U approach, we found that in a two-dimensional semiconductor codoped with different transition metal pairs, spinpolarized electrons and zero magnetization co-exist.
We systematically investigated a Fe-Cr codoped monolayer boron nitride (BN) sheet. Interestingly, the Fe-Cr codoping in the BN sheet induces a half-semiconductor feature, with fully spin-polarized valence and conduction bands belonging to the same spin channel and completely compensated spontaneous magnetization.
We propose that this type of materials are half-semiconductor antiferromagnets (HSCAF). Spin gapless semiconductor antiferromagnets (SGSAF) with zero net magnetism are also achieved in such codoped systems.
Moreover, we find that HSCAF can be realized in other two-dimensional materials, such as monolayer AlN and GaN with Cr-Ni and Mn-Co codoping, respectively. The HSCAF and SGSAF not only represent promising candidates for spintronics, but also enrich the concept of magnetic materials.