The Doping Effect on Ferromagnetic Arrangement and Electronic Structure of Cubic AlAs with Low Concentration of 3d (V, Cr, and Mn) Impurities

The doping effect of aluminum arsenide (AlAs) with 3d (TM = V, Cr, and Mn) of transition metal impurities gives new materials called diluted magnetic semiconductors, which have interesting electronic and magnetic properties for spintronics applications. We have used the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method to calculate the electronic band structures and magnetic properties of Al1−xTMxAs at low concentration x = 0.0625 of transition metal (TM = V, Cr, and Mn) atoms. We have found that the majority-spin states of Al0.9375TM0.0625As compounds are metallic due to large p-d hybridization between 3d levels of TM and the 4p levels of As around Fermi level, whereas the minority-spin states have semiconductor character. These compounds exhibit a half-metallic behavior with spin polarization of 100%, where the ferromagnetism is originated from double-exchange mechanism. Therefore, Al0.9375TM0.0625As (TM = V, Cr, and Mn) materials seem to be good candidates for spin injection in the field of spintronics applications.