Transport properties of Heusler compounds and alloys

Abstract

Heusler compounds are a large group of intermetallic compositions with versatile material properties. In recent times, they are found to be important for their practical applications in the fields of spintronics and shape memory effect. Interestingly, their physical properties can be easily tuned by varying the valence electron concentration through proper doping and substitution. Empirical laws concerning the valence electron concentration, such as Slater–Pauling or Hume-Rothery rules are found to be useful in predicting their electronic, magnetic and structural properties quite accurately. Electrical transport measurements are simple laboratory-based techniques to gather a handful of information on the electronic properties of metals and semiconductors. The present review aimed to provide a comprehensive view of the transport in 3d and 4d transition metal-based bulk Heusler compositions. The main emphasis is given on resistivity, magnetoresistance, Hall effect, thermopower and spin-dependent transport in spintronics devices. The review primarily focuses on magnetic Heusler compounds and alloys, albeit it also addresses several non-magnetic materials showing superconductivity or large thermopower.

Structural and Magnetic Properties of Inverse-Heusler Mn2FeSi Alloy Powder Prepared by Ball Milling

“…The current rapid development of technology increases the requirements for materials research and the search for new material compositions. One of the attractive and currently investigated classes are Heusler alloys, which contain more than 4000 potential members and are applied in the fields like spintronics [1], magnetooptics [2,3], magnetoresistance and magnetocaloric devices [4,5], topological materials [6], shape memory alloys [7,8], spin injectors [9], etc. In general, regular types of Heusler materials are ternary intermetallic compounds with composition of elements X 2 YZ (full-Heusler) or XYZ (half-Heusler), where X and Y are transition metals (e.g., Fe, Co, Mn) and Z is an s, p element, e.g., Si, Al, In, Sn.…”

Experimental Observations versus First‐Principles Calculations for Ni–Mn–Ga Ferromagnetic Shape Memory Alloys: A Review

“…The transport properties of Ni–Mn–Ga were the subject of a recent topical review. [ 262 ] For Heusler alloys, the most investigated property is either the spin‐transport or spin‐polarized current. This fully polarized current can occur in some semimetal Heusler alloys, for example, in Co–Mn‐based alloys, as half metallicity is an important parameter for spintronic applications.…”

Unusual Kinetic Properties of Usual Heusler Alloys

“…Many Heusler alloys based on cobalt Co2YZ (Y = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni; Z = Al, Ga, Ge, Si, Sn, In, Sb) have low residual resistivity and positive temperature coefficient of resistivity [28,[46][47][48]. Such alloys, in particular, include Co2FeSi and Co2MnSi compounds.…”

“…To date, there are many reviews devoted to the study of the structure and physical properties of Heusler alloys (see, for example, [4,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]). However, many of these reviews are devoted to describing a wide range of functional characteristics of Heusler alloys, where insufficient attention is paid to the semiconducting properties, the states of HMF and SGS, TSM, and noncollinear antiferromagnet.…”