Spintronic Properties of the Interface between Si(111) and 3C-SiC(111) Grown by the Method of Coordinated Substitution of Atoms

Properties of the interface between Si(111) and 3C-SiC(111) grown by the method of coordinated substitution of atoms have been studied using the density-functional method within the spin-polarized approximation. The most favorable atomic configuration at the interface has been found. It is shown that SiC faces Si with a carbon plane, and SiC detaches 3 out of 16 Si atoms from the second layer of substrate atoms. As a result, three Si atoms in the substrate have three bonds each (instead of four), while three C atoms in the lower layer of the SiC film also have three bonds. These atoms have a magnetic moment owing to unpaired p electrons. It is established that this interface is a typical semiconductor with respect to up-spin electron and a two-dimensional ferromagnetic metal relative to down-spin electron.