We present results of a density functional theory study of MnO in the
wurtzite structure. Our motivation is provided by recent experiments reporting
ferromagnetism in Mn-doped wurtzite structure ZnO. We find that wurtzite MnO a)
is not strongly energetically disfavored as compared with the ground state
rocksalt MnO, b) shows strong magnetostructural coupling and c) has a
piezoelectric response that is larger than that of ZnO. These predictions augur
well for the creation of ferromagnetic piezoelectric semiconductor based on
Mn-doped ZnO
