Electronic and magnetic properties of Si substituted Fe₃Ge

Using first principles calculations, we studied the effect of Si substitution in the hexagonal Fe₃Ge. We find the low temperature magnetic anisotropy in this system to be planar and originating mostly from the spin-orbit coupling in Fe-d states. Reduction of the unitcell volume reduces the magnitude of in-plane magnetic anisotropy, eventually turning it positive which reorients the magnetic moments to the axial direction. Substituting Ge with the smaller Si ions also increases the anisotropy, potentially enhancing the region of stability of the axial magnetization, which is beneficial for magnetic applications such as permanent magnets. Our experimental measurements on samples of Fe₃Ge_1-xSi_x confirm these predictions and show that substitution of about 6% of the Ge with Si increases by approximately 35 K the temperature range over which anisotropy is uniaxial.