Temperature and thickness dependence of low temperature transport in amorphous silicon thin films: A comparison to amorphous germanium

The temperature and thickness dependence of the low temperature electrical transport of amorphous silicon thin films measured in-situ in ultra-high vacuum are presented. As for a-Ge there is an extended range of $\text{ln ? ∝ T}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?1</mtext><mtext>4</mtext>}}$ for thick films with $\text{ln ? ∝ S}{}_2\text{T}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?1</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}$ for thin films with $\text{S}{}_2\text{∝ d}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?1</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}$ as expected from a variable range tunneling mechanism.