Interfacial magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction at two-dimensional SiC/Fe4N(111) interfaces

Abstract

Tailoring the magnetic properties of interfaces with light element materials is very promising for achieving energy-efficient spintronic devices. Here, the magnetic properties of SiC/Fe4N(111) interfaces with different stacking patterns and interlayer distances are investigated by first-principles calculations. It is found that the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of SiC/Fe4N(111) interfaces decreases when compared with the clean Fe4N(111) surface, where it decreases by 28.5% in the model where the C atom is directly above the corner Fe atom. The change in magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) can be mainly ascribed to the surface and subsurface Fe atomic layers of the Fe4N substrate, while the deep atomic layers show little contribution. Moreover, the interlayer distance can reverse the sign of MAE and the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction at the interfacial Fe atomic layer. The MAE of the face-centered Fe (FeB) atom is sensitive to the interlayer distance, indicating that FeB atoms play a key role in the interfacial properties. These results indicate that interlayer distance engineering is an effective method to manipulate the magnetic properties of interfaces.