First-principles disordered local-moment study on temperature dependence of spin polarization in Co2Fe(Ga0.5Ge0.5) Heusler alloy

Magnetoresistance (MR) devices fabricated with half-metallic Co-based Heusler alloys (Co2YZ) have a large MR ratio but are subject to substantial temperature degradation. Reduction of the spin polarization in the bulk electrode at finite temperatures is one possible reason for the reduction in the MR ratio. In this study, we investigated the temperature dependence of the spin polarization of Co2Fe(Ga0.5Ge0.5) (CFGG) using density-functional theory and the disordered local-moment method. We found that the reduction in the spin polarization at finite temperatures is smaller in CFGG compared to the well known Co2MnSi (CMS) half-metal, which is attributed to the higher Curie temperature of CFGG than CMS. On the other hand, it was also found that modulation of the Fermi level position in the half-metallic gap of CFGG within the rigid band model by electron and hole doping can improve the temperature dependence of the spin polarization. However, off-stoichiometric Co-rich and Fe-rich CFGG corresponding to electron and hole doping show a reduction in spin polarization compared to that of stoichiometric CFGG at 0 K. Therefore, we propose that modulation of the Fermi level position through varying the Y and Z site compositions of Co2YZ will be necessary to improve the temperature dependence of the spin polarization.