Crystal Structure and Bonding Patterns Leading to High Temperature Magnetic Order and Spin Canting in the Ternary Nitride MnSiN₂

Ternary nitride materials possess a wide range of structures, compositions, and properties, making them viable candidates for novel correlated electron states. Even though the N³⁻ ion creates a distinctive chemical bond with open d-shell transition metals, magnetic compounds rich in nitrogen are still relatively unexplored. Here, we discuss the magnetic ternary nitride MnSiN₂, a canted antiferromagnet with a high T_N=443K. Neutron diffraction, symmetry group analysis, density functional theory calculations, lead to a model where the spins are rotated 10^o away from the crystallographic axis, and have a 0.6⁰ canting relative to each other. We also discuss how the sp³ bonding characterizing the SiN₄ tetrahedra, and crystal structure of this material, leads to the spin physics observed in this material. [1]

[1] Linus Kautzsch, Alexandru B. Georgescu, Danilo Puggioni, Greggory Kent, Keith M. Taddei, Aiden Reilly, Ram Seshadri, James M. Rondinelli, and Stephen D. Wilson, Physical Review Materials (Editors' Suggestion), Phys. Rev. Materials 7, 104406, 2023