The effects of point defects on the electronic and magnetic properties of GaN/ZnO heterojunction polar interface

The potential use of GaN/ZnO heterojunction as a magnetic material has been neglected because its magnetic properties are rarely studied. In this study, the magnetic properties of GaN/ZnO heterojunction interface are systematically calculated, and the effect of electric polarization intensity on the spin-electron was analyzed. Results showed that GaN/ZnO heterojunction interface exhibits a semiconducting feature. The magnetism of GaN/ZnO heterojunction interface is mainly affected by two factors. The first factor is the number of unpaired estate electrons induced by cation vacancies, and the magnetism in the heterojunction interface originated from the spin polarization of these p-state electrons. The second factor is the electric polarization intensity in the heterojunction interface. If the electric polarization intensity is too low, then the unpaired p-electrons cannot be spin-polarized to produce a net magnetic moment. The spin polarization of p-state electrons increases with the increase in electric polarization intensity. Excessive electric polarization intensity inverts the spin direction of a part of p-state electrons, and ferromagnetic-ferrimagnetic-antiferromagnetic transition occurs in the heterojunction interface. Therefore, the magnetic property of GaN/ZnO heterojunction interface can be controlled by varying the electric polarization intensity.