First-principles study of structural, electronic and magnetic properties of AeX (Ae=Be, Mg, Sr, Ba; X=Si, Ge and Sn) compounds

Abstract The first-principles study of the electronic structure and ferromagnetism of AeX (Ae=Be, Mg, Sr and Ba; X=Si, Ge and Sn) compounds have been performed in the ground-state CrB-type and hypothetical NaCl- and zinc blende-type structures by spin-polarization and non-spin-polarization calculations. The TBLMTO-ASA program was used for the purpose. In the CrB-type structure, all these compounds exhibit non-magnetic and metallic behavior. The calculations show that in the NaCl- and ZB-type structures BeSi, BeGe, BeSn, MgSi, MgGe and MgSn compounds are non-magnets whereas SrSi, SrGe, SrSn, BaSi, BaGe and BaSn compounds are ferromagnetic and metallic. Apart from this the ZB-type SrSi, SrGe, BaSi and BaGe compounds exhibit half-metallicity at their equilibrium volume with a magnetic moment of 2.0 μ B per formula unit. However, ZB-type SrSn and BaSn compounds are found to exhibit half-metallic property under expansion of volume. The magnetism arises mainly from the anion p-like states and partial involvement of cation d-like states. The ground state properties like equilibrium lattice parameters, bulk modulus, cohesive energy, magnetic moment, spin-flip-gap and majority spin band gap are calculated and compared with available results. The band structure and density of states are also presented. These materials will be useful for the study of p-electron magnetism and in spintronic devices.