Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in ZnMnS ultra-thin films caused by structural cleavage

Half tetragonal ZnMnS crystal based on three single layers of Zn, S and Mn was investigated by including spin-orbit coupling in full potential linearized augmented plane waves method. We show that the magnetic anisotropy exhibits a strong dependence with structural cleavage, which induces an out-of plane magnetic easy axis. The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was calculated to be 1890.9 µeV. The anti-ferromagnetic behavior is displayed between Mn atoms having a magnetic moment of ±3.57 μB with c(2 × 2) magnetic configuration. The results indicate that ZnMnS compound has interesting optical and magnetic properties for spintronics applications.