We present first-principles density functional calculations of the electronic structure, magnetism, and structural stability of 378 XYZ half-Heusler compounds (with X = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Ru, Rh; Y = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni; Z = Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, Sn, P, As, Sb). We find that a "Slater-Pauling gap" in the density of states, (i.e. a gap or pseudogap after nine states in the three atom primitive cell) in at least one spin channel is a common feature in half-Heusler compounds. We find that the presence of such a gap at the Fermi energy in one or both spin channels contributes significantly to the stability of a half-Heusler compound. We calculate the formation energy of each compound and systematically investigate its stability against all other phases in the Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD). We represent the thermodynamic phase stability of each compound as its distance from the convex hull of stable phases in the respective chemical space and show that the hull distance of a compound is a good measure of the likelihood of its experimental synthesis. We find low formation energies and mostly correspondingly low hull distances for compounds with X = Co, Rh or Ni, Y = Ti or V, and Z = P, As, Sb or Si. We identify 26 18-electron semiconductors, 45 half-metals, and 34 near half-metals with negative formation energy, that follow the Slater-Pauling rule of three electrons per atom. Our calculations predict several new, as-yet unknown, thermodynamically stable phases which merit further experimental exploration -RuVAs, CoVGe, FeVAs in the half-Heusler structure, and NiScAs, RuVP, RhTiP in the orthorhombic MgSrSi-type structure. Further, two interesting zero-moment half-metals, CrMnAs and MnCrAs, are calculated to have negative formation energy. In addition, our calculations predict a number of hitherto unreported semiconducting (e.g., CoVSn, RhVGe), half-metallic (e.g., RhVSb), and near half-metallic (e.g., CoFeSb, CoVP) half-Heusler compounds to lie close to the respective convex hull of stable phases, and thus may be experimentally realized under suitable synthesis conditions, resulting in potential candidates for various semiconducting and spintronics applications.

Dipole-coupled nanomagnetic logic (NML), where nanomagnets (NMs) with bistable magnetization states act as binary switches and information is transferred between them via dipole-coupling and Bennett clocking, is a potential replacement for conventional transistor logic since magnets dissipate less energy than transistors when they switch in a logic circuit. Magnets are also 'non-volatile' and hence can store the results of a computation after the computation is over, thereby doubling as both logic and memory-a feat that transistors cannot achieve. However, dipole-coupled NML is much more error-prone than transistor logic at room temperature [Formula: see text] because thermal noise can easily disrupt magnetization dynamics. Here, we study a particularly energy-efficient version of dipole-coupled NML known as straintronic multiferroic logic (SML) where magnets are clocked/switched with electrically generated mechanical strain. By appropriately 'shaping' the voltage pulse that generates strain, we show that the error rate in SML can be reduced to tolerable limits. We describe the error probabilities associated with various stress pulse shapes and discuss the trade-off between error rate and switching speed in SML.The lowest error probability is obtained when a 'shaped' high voltage pulse is applied to strain the output NM followed by a low voltage pulse. The high voltage pulse quickly rotates the output magnet's magnetization by 90° and aligns it roughly along the minor (or hard) axis of the NM. Next, the low voltage pulse produces the critical strain to overcome the shape anisotropy energy barrier in the NM and produce a monostable potential energy profile in the presence of dipole coupling from the neighboring NM. The magnetization of the output NM then migrates to the global energy minimum in this monostable profile and completes a 180° rotation (magnetization flip) with high likelihood.

Neél skyrmions originate from interfacial Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interaction (DMI). Recent studies have explored using thin-film ferromagnets and ferrimagnets to host Neél skyrmions for spintronic applications. However, it is unclear if ultrasmall (10 nm or less) skyrmions can ever be stabilized at room temperature for practical use in high density parallel racetrack memories. While thicker films can improve stability, DMI decays rapidly away from the interface. As such, spins far away from the interface would experience near-zero DMI, raising question on whether or not unrealistically large DMI is needed to stabilize skyrmions, and whether skyrmions will also collapse away from the interface. To address these questions, we have employed atomistic stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert simulations to investigate skyrmions in amorphous ferrimagnetic GdCo. It is revealed that a significant reduction in DMI below that of Pt is sufficient to stabilize ultrasmall skyrmions even in films as thick as 15 nm. Moreover, skyrmions are found to retain a uniform columnar shape across the film thickness due to the long ferrimagnetic exchange length despite the decaying DMI. Our results show that increasing thickness and reducing DMI in GdCo can further reduce the size of skyrmions at room temperature, which is crucial to improve the density and energy efficiency in skyrmion based devices.

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Klein tunneling, the perfect transmission of normally incident Dirac electrons across a potential barrier, has been widely studied in graphene and explored to design switches, albeit indirectly. We show that Klein tunneling maybe easier to detect for spin-momentum locked electrons crossing a PN junction along a three dimensional topological insulator surface. In these topological insulator PN junctions (TIPNJs), the spin texture and momentum distribution of transmitted electrons can be measured electrically using a ferromagnetic probe for varying gate voltages and angles of current injection. Based on transport models across a TIPNJ, we show that the asymmetry in the potentiometric signal between PP and PN junctions and its overall angular dependence serve as a direct signature of Klein tunneling.