Magnetism and electronic structure of Mn- and V-doped zinc blende ZnTe from first-principles calculations

Abstract

By means of the first-principles full potential linearized augmented plane-wave method within the local density approximation for the exchange-correlation functional, we have investigated the magnetism and electronic structure of Mn- and V-doped zinc blende ZnTe. Total energy calculations show that, for high doping concentration (12.5%), ZnTe:Mn has an antiferromagnetic ground state while the ferromagnetic state is more favorable than the antiferromagnetic state for ZnTe:V. Furthermore, ZnTe with a low doping of Mn (6.25%) has a stable ferromagnetic ground state, which is in agreement with the experimental results. The calculated magnetic moment of ZnTe doped with Mn (V) mainly originates from transition metal Mn (V) atom with a little contribution from Te atom due to the hybridization between Mn (V) 3d and Te 5p electrons. Electronic structure indicates that Mn-doped ZnTe is a semiconductor, but V-doped ZnTe shows a half-metallic characteristic. We also discuss the difference between electronic and magnetic properties for ZnTe doped with 12.5% and 6.25% Mn.