First principles description of the insulator-metal transition in europium monoxide

Europium monoxide, EuO, is a ferromagnetic insulator. Its electronic structure under pressure and doping is investigated by means of density functional theory. We employ spin polarized electronic structure calculations including onsite electron-electron interaction for the localized Eu 4f and 5d electrons. Our results show that under pressure the ferromagnetism is stable, both for hydrostatic and uniaxial pressure, while the compound undergoes an insulator-metal transition. The insulator-metal transition in O deficient and Gd doped EuO is reproduced for an impurity concentration of 6.25%. A 10 monolayer thick EuO(1 0 0) thin film is predicted to be an insulator with a narrow band gap of 0.08 eV.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (150KB)Download full-size imageHighlights► Coherent description of O deficient and electron doped EuO. ► Insulating surface state. ► Narrow band gap of 0.08 eV.