Electric transport in Fe/ZnSe/Fe heterostructures

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Abstract
The electronic structure, magnetic properties, and perpendicular electric transport in bcc Fe/ZnSe/Fe(100) heterostructures with Zn and Se termination are discussed in terms of the fully relativistic spin-polarized version of the screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method and the Kubo-Greenwood equation. It is found that different (Zn or Se) terminations cause substantial differences in the interlayer exchange coupling, the magnetic anisotropy, and, most prominently, in the magnetoresistance. The most important result, however, is that the difference between the sheet resistances in the parallel and the antiparallel configuration becomes constant with increasing spacer thickness. This constant value depends on the type of termination and is essentially determined by the interfaces.