Ladungstransport in dünnen Filmen

The electronic charge transport in thin indium films of high purity is investigated (direct current, eddy current and magnetoresistance in a magnetic field perpendicular to the surface) at low temperatures where surface scattering of the electrons becomes important. A method is described which allows the determination of the mean free path (corresponding to a Sommerfeld-model for the conduction electrons) for a single specimen by measuring both the direct current conductivity and the decay time of eddy currents. For a multivalent metal like indium, with a Fermi surface extending over different Brillouin zones, the “mean free path” evaluated in this way can no longer be regarded as the mean value of the electronic free path calculated over the whole Fermi surface. It is shown, that for indium the ?mean free path” evaluated from our size effect investigations will mainly correspond to the electrons of the second zone, and that the electrons of the third zone only neglectingly contribute to the electronic charge transport.     

Étude expérimentale de la diffusion des électrons de conduction par les défauts superficiels de couches minces d'or

Polycrystalline thin gold films are grown under vacuum by successive depositions of metal layers. Their electrical resistivity is interpreted in terms of Fuchs-Sondheimer and Cottey-Halpern theories. For recrystallised samples, these models yield values near 0.3 for the diffusion parameter of conduction electrons by the surfaces. Their bulk resistivity at 20°C is found to exceed that for pure perfect gold by some tenth of microΩ cm.Unrecrystallized layers have large thickness inhomogeneities; consequently their electrical resistance cannot be directly described by the theoretical models used here.The variations of electrical resistance measured when adding a small amount of gold on the free surface of a recrystallized gold film are studied in details. They are explained in terms of diffusion of the conduction electrons by the surface defects created in this. process.The growth mechanism of the film is shown to depend on the state of the free surface, residual gas in the vacuum chamber and substrate temperature. A schematic model for growth process is given to account for oscillations of the diffusion parameter observed during the deposition of the first monolayers of metal.     

Indirect interactions between localized magnetic moments in doped semiconductors

The coupling between localized magnetic moments via conduction electrons is calculated taking into account the temperature and the mean free path of the electrons. For a fully degenerate electron gas and an infinite electronic mean free path the oscillatory RKKY interaction is obtained. On the limit of Boltzmann population and for infinite electronic mean free path the interaction can only be ferromagnetic. Taking into account the electronic mean free path the possibility of antiferromagnetism is restored. Furthermore the range of the interaction decreases. Several intermediate cases and possible applications are discussed.     

The mystery of the alkali metals; the induced anomalous Hall effect in thin Cs films

Sandwiches made from Fe and Cs films are investigated as a function of the magnetic field and the Cs thickness. Conduction electrons which cross from the Fe to the Cs are marked by a drift velocity component perpendicular to the electric field. The anomalous Hall effect in the Fe provides this “non-diagonal” kick to the electrons that cross from the Fe into the Cs. The ballistic propagation of the conduction electrons can be monitored as a function of the Cs film thickness. The free propagation into the Cs is measured in terms of the non-diagonal conductance L_xy which we denote as the “induced anomalous Hall conductance”L _xy ⁰. For a normal (non-magnetic) metal in contact with Fe, L_xy increases with the thickness of the normal metal until the film thickness exceeds (half) the mean free path of the conduction electrons. For Cs on top of Fe the induced anomalous Hall conductance increases up to a Cs coverage of about 100 A, then, in contrast to other non-magnetic metals, L _xy ⁰ decreases for larger Cs coverage and approaches zero. This behavior cannot be explained with the free electron model. The strange behavior of the induced AHC in Cs films adds an even more challenging mystery to the already poorly understood properties of thin Cs films. These results defy explanation in the free electron model. Received 29 April 1999 and Received in final form 10 July 1999     

Microscopic calculation of the magnetic field of neutron stars

Based on the Dirac equation describing an electron moving in a uniform and cylindrically symmetric magnetic field which may be the result of the self-consistent mean field of the electrons themselves in a neutron star, we have obtained the eigen solutions and the orbital magnetic moments of electrons in which each eigen orbital can be calculated. From the eigen energy spectrum we find that the lowest energy level is the highly degenerate orbitals with the quantum numbers pZ=0, n=0, and m≥0. At the ground state, the electrons fill the lowest eigen states to form many Landau magnetic cells and each cell is a circular disk with the radius λfree and the thickness λe, where λfree is the electron mean free path determined by Coulomb cross section and electron density and λe is the electron Compton wavelength. The magnetic moment of each cell and the number of cells in the neutron star are calculated, from which the total magnetic moment and magnetic field of the neutron star can be calculated. The results are compared with the observational data and the agreement is reasonable.     

Depth Distribution of Residual Fluorine in a Polyvinylidene Fluoride Film under Electron Bombardment

The influence of the initial energy of electrons on the kinetics of the defluorination of the surface of a polyvinylidene fluoride film (PVDF) under electron bombardment is studied. The kinetic equation of the third order describes this process for any electron energy. The minimum possible fluorine content in the near-surface layer of the PVDF film exposed to long-duration bombardment is determined. The depth of penetration of electrons into the sample, i.e. the free path of bombarding electrons with different initial energies, is calculated. The nonmonotonic depth distribution of residual fluorine in the film, which to a great extent depends on the electron energy, is revealed.     

A direct indication for specular reflection of conduction electrons at the vacuum boundary of metal films

Highly disordered films of Al, Cu, Ag and Au are deposited at low temperatures on top of an annealed layer of the same metal. Although two electric conductors are connected in parallel, the total conductance of the sandwich first decreases, then passes through a minimum, and finally increases with increasing thickness of the disordered overlayer. Such curves of the total conductance versus thickness of the second film are interpreted within the Fuchs-Sondheimer model of the geometrical size effect. This model is used to calculate the fraction of specularly scattered conduction electrons at the uncovered surface, and the mean free path of the conduction electrons in the quench condensed overlayer.     

Influence of self-heating on the step structures in the current-voltage characteristic of superconducting films

The current-induced transition between the normal and the superconducting state of Sn, In, and Pb films is investigated by varying the helium bath temperature, film thickness, mean free path, and an external magnetic field oriented parallel to the film surface. The experiments show that, farther fromT _c , heating effects play an important role. The heating of the films relative to the helium bath by the liberation of Joule heat in the resistive state and the influence of hotspot formation on the step structures in the current-voltage characteristics of the samples are established with a graphite thermometer. the temperature and the size of the hotspots are determined by the power dissipation, the surface heat transfer, and the heat conduction within the film.     

Untersuchung des elektrischen widerstandes und des weglängeneffektes der leitungselektronen an dünnen kupferdrähten

The mean free path of the conduction electrons is determined by the size effect on thin copper wires. The value ?·λ being a temperature-independent constant according to the model of the free electron gas for different metals is evaluated for copper from the results of the measurements.     

Anomalous magnetotransport in chemically doped carbon nanotubes

We report on anomalous magnetotransport features in chemically doped, weakly disordered carbon nanotubes. Under the application of a magnetic field parallel to the tube axis, hole conduction is shown to be strongly affected by impurity scattering with short mean free path and negative magnetoresistance, strongly different from electron conduction with much longer mean free path and positive magnetoresistance behavior.     

Conductance of a perfect thin film with diffuse surface scattering

The conductance of thin films with diffusive surface scattering was solved semiclassically by Fuchs and Sondheimer. However, when the intrinsic electron mean free path is very large or infinite their conductance diverges. In this Letter a simple diffraction picture is presented. It yields a conductance which corresponds to a limiting mean free path of a(2)/lambda(F), where a is the film thickness.     

Filamentation and stimulated Brillouin scattering in a turbulent plasma

This paper presents a theory of filamentation and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation in a weakly collisional plasma with ion-acoustic turbulence. When the square of the wavelength of the plasma perturbations is less than the product of the two mean free path lengths of an electron with respect to its collisions with turbulent fluctuations and with electrons, the influence of cold highly collisional electrons on the parametric instabilities becomes apparent. It is shown that the plasma turbulence lowers the filamentation threshold, and the SBS threshold can be either lowered or raised. The dependence of the SBS and filamentation thresholds on the electron mean free path length in the turbulent plasma and on the anisotropy of the plasma turbulence is determined. The corresponding dependence of the spatial scale of the most efficiently growing filaments and their spatial growth rate are found. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 629–645 (February 1998)     

Calculation of the RF Conductivity and Hall Constant of a Thin Metal Film

The kinetic problem of finding the rf conductivity and Hall constant of a thin metal film placed in a transverse steady magnetic field and a longitudinal variable electric field has been considered. It has been assumed that electrons diffusely reflect from the upper and lower surfaces of the film. No limitations have been imposed on the relationship between the thickness of the film and the electron free path. The dependences of the conductivity and Hall constant on dimensionless parameters, namely, electric field frequency, magnetic field induction, and thickness of the film, have been studied. Calculation results have been compared with the experimental data.     

High-frequency phenomena in organic conductors in a magnetic field

The propagation of electromagnetic waves in organic layered conductors with metallic conductance and a quasi-two-dimensional electron energy spectrum of arbitrary form is studied theoretically. The depth of penetration of the electromagnetic field into the conductor is found, and it is discovered to be sensitive to the polarization of the incident wave. This is done for an arbitrarily oriented (with respect to the layers) magnetic field so strong that the radius of curvature of the electron path is much smaller than the electron’s mean free path. It is established that studying these effects in experiments can reveal in detail the shape and dimensions of the Fermi surface and the relaxation properties of the conduction electrons. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 114, 676–686 (August 1998)     

Experimental determination of the energy dependence of electron inelastic mean free path in silicon oxide and silicon nitride

The energy dependence of the electron inelastic mean free path, λ(E), in silicon oxide and silicon nitride is experimentally determined via Auger electron spectroscopy according to Auger signal attenuation with varying film thickness. Silicon-oxide- and silicon-nitride films are formed on different metal substrates by means of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Analysis of the results and their comparison with theoretical data indicate that, in the chosen material, variations in the electron mean free path versus their energy are estimated more reliably by means of experiments than through the use of universal theoretical curves. It appears that the results obtained in this work can help in the more accurate determination of the width and location of interfaces in multilayer structures.     

Analysis of the anomalous Hall effect in a double layer of a ferromagnetic and a normal metal

A new method is suggested to investigate the mechanism of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in ferromagnetic metals. Using a double layer of a ferromagnet and a normal metal of increasing thickness one can manipulate the AHE in the ferromagnet without changing the ferromagnet's structure and electronic properties. The conduction electrons from the normal metal carry their drift velocity across the interface into the ferromagnetic film and induce an additional AHE conductance ΔG_xy. Its dependence on the mean free path in the normal metal distinguishes between the side jump and the skew scattering mechanisms for the AHE in the ferromagnet.     

Dielectric tensor of low-dimensional metal systems

The dielectric tensor of a low-dimensional metal system has been introduced on the basis of the density matrix in the relaxation time approximation. The properties of this tensor have been analyzed. It has been proved that anisotropy and nonlocality are decisive features of the response of low-dimensional systems to an electromagnetic field. In particular, the expression has been derived for the dielectric tensor of nanometer- thick metal films. It has been shown that the dielectric tensor components can be reduced to the Drude dielectric function for a homogeneous metal in the case when the film thickness considerably exceeds the effective electron mean free path. The application of the classical distribution function for describing electrons in the film is justified under these conditions.     

How is it possible to obtain buried interface information through very thick films using a hard-X-ray PEEM?

We analyze the excitation of secondary electrons by hard-X-rays in subsurface layers. By studying core-excited photoelectron lines and their plasmon satellites in photoemission spectra, we show how electrons excited by hard-X-rays can carry information from deep regions deep within the sample to the surface. It is believed that the decay of high-energy photoelectrons via plasmon-loss is strongly related to the production of secondary electrons. For high-energy electrons, however, the momentum transfer to plasmons is small compared to the electron’s initial momentum, so the lateral position on the surface from which the secondary electrons are emitted is close to that of the atom initially excited by the hard-X-rays. This explains why the spatial resolution of hard-X-ray photoelectron emission microscope (HX-PEEM) images is good even if the buried interface is covered by a film with a thickness many times the inelastic mean free path of the primary electrons. This argument explains well recent HX-PEEM results.     

Mean free path of ballistic electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices

The mean free path of ballistic electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices was measured using the technique of hot electron spectroscopy in magnetic fields perpendicular to the growth direction. We utilize the fact that the total effective path of an injected hot electron is a function of the applied magnetic field. For a superlattice with 6.5 nm GaAs wells and 2.5 nm GaAlAs barriers we measure a mean free path of 80 nm. The experimental results of a ten-period SL sample are compared to a fully three-dimensional calculation of the transmission including interface roughness with island sizes of 10 nm. We demonstrate that the observed mfp is limited due to interface roughness scattering for temperatures up to 50 K.