Tuning Fermi level of Cr2CoZ (Z=Al and Si) inverse Heusler alloys via Fe-doping for maximum spin polarization

We report full potential treatment of electronic and magnetic properties of Cr2−xFexCoZ (Z=Al, Si) Heusler alloys where x=0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0, based on density functional theory (DFT). Both parent alloys (Cr2CoAl and Cr2CoSi) are not half-metallic frromagnets. The gradual replacement of one Cr sublattice with Fe induces the half-metallicity in these systems, resulting maximum spin polarization. The half-metallicity starts to appear in Cr2−xFexCoAl and Cr2−xFexCoSi with x=0.50 and x=0.25, respectively, and the values of minority-spin gap and half-metallic gap or spin-flip gap increase with further increase of x. These gaps are found to be maximum for x=1.0 for both cases. An excellent agreement between the structural properties of CoFeCrAl with available experimental study is obtained. The Fermi level tuning by Fe-doping makes these alloys highly spin polarized and thus these can be used as promising candidates for spin valves and magnetic tunnelling junction applications.