Half-metallic ferromagnetism in wurtzite SrC

The first-principles full potential linearized augmented plane-wave method within density-functional theory is used to investigate electronic structure and magnetism of wurtzite (WZ) crystal structure SrC. It is shown that the WZ SrC is a true half-metallic ferromagnet with a magnetic moment of 2μB per formula unit. The large HM gaps (0.72 eV) and robustness of half-metallicity with respect to the lattice change make it possible candidate grown epitaxially on appropriate substrates in the form of films thick enough, and therefore should be useful in spintronics and other related applications. (copyright 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)