Study on Electronic Structure and Magnetic Properties of Ni3Fe Ferromagnetic Layer Adjacent to Cu

Abstract

The effect of a Cu layer on the electronic structure and magnetic properties of Ni3Fe was studied by employing the discrete-variational method in the framework of density-functional theory. Three models were established for Ni3Fe(6), Ni3Fe(3)/Cu(3)/Ni3Fe(3), and Ni3Fe(3)/Cu(3). The charge transfer, magnetic moment, and spin exchange split at the Fermi level were obtained for Fe and Ni atoms in a Ni3Fe layer. The related characterizations of Ni3Fe were estimated from those of Fe and Ni atoms. It was discovered that the magnetic properties of the Ni3Fe layer improved when adjacent to Cu layer due to the improvement of the corresponding properties of the Fe atoms in the Ni3Fe. However, the magnetic moment and the spin exchange split of the Ni atoms in the Ni3Fe decreased when the Ni3Fe was adjacent to a Cu layer.