Giant tunneling magnetoresistance in Fe$_2$CrSi/Fe$_2$TiSi/Fe$_2$CrSi magnetic tunnel junction

Abstract: We propose a theoretical model for an all-Heusler magnetic tunnel junction that uses two Heusler compounds: Fe$_2$CrSi and Fe$_2$TiSi, both of which can be experimentally synthesized. Fe$_2$CrSi is a half-metallic ferromagnet, making it a promising material for efficient spin injection in magnetic random access memories and other spin-dependent devices. While, Fe$_2$TiSi is a nonmagnetic semiconductor that has the same lattice structure and comparable lattice constant with Fe$_2$CrSi, as it can be obtained by substituting the $Y$-site atoms in Fe$_2$CrSi. By using Fe$_2$TiSi as a tunneling barrier sandwiched by two pieces of semi-infinite Fe$_2$CrSi to construct an all-Heusler magnetic tunnel junction, the interface disorder is naturally reduced. Our calculations demonstrate that this magnetic tunnel junction can exhibit a giant tunneling magnetoresistance of up to 10$^{9}$\% and remains robust under finite bias voltage. These characteristics suggest that Fe$_2$CrSi/Fe$_2$TiSi/Fe$_2$CrSi MTJ will be an ideal candidate for future spintronic applications. More importantly, such a device model can keep such a giant tunneling magnetoresistance at and beyond room temperature due to the high Curie temperature of Fe$_2$CrSi.