First Principle Study of the Si-EuO Interface

As scaling in the conventional semiconductor industry continues, including the electronic spin degree offers new ways of information processing. The choice of materials in semiconductor spintronics needs to provide efficient spin injection and detection along with the long coherent length and relaxation time in the semiconductor. Silicon offers a long spin relaxation time. And EuO is a promising ferromagnetic semiconductor, at least at low temperature. Due to its high spin polarization and thermodynamic stability on Si, epitaxial EuO may be a good candidate for application of spintronics. We use first principle calculations to study the atomic and electronic structure of the Si-EuO interface. We construct Si-EuO interface models and analyze the band alignment at the interface, our results suggest that Si-EuO heterostructure is a feasible option for spin injector in Si-based spintronic devices.