Invited Paper EM+AS+NS+SS-WeA9
Why All the Interest in Heusler Alloys?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013, 4:40 pm, Room 102 A

Heusler alloys have received a lot of attention because of their large range of properties, which include electronic, piezoelectric, magnetic, thermoelectric and shape memory. Their properties depend on the number of valence electrons per formula unit and have been predicted to be semiconductors, metals, ferromagnets, antiferromagnets, half metals, superconductors and topological insulators. Similar to compound semiconductors, the band structure and lattice parameters of Heusler alloys can also be tuned through alloying but over a much larger range of properties. Magnetic tunnel junctions using Heusler alloys that are predicted to be half metals have shown record tunneling magnetoresistance. They can be lattice matched to most compound semiconductors and have also been used for spin injecting contacts. This presentation will emphasize the molecular beam epitaxial growth on III-V semiconductors and tuning of their properties with examples for spintronic, semiconductor, topological insulator and shape memory applications.