Electrical resistivity of amorphous alloys

Amorphous alloys of Ga, Sn, Pb and Bi with Cu, Ag and Au are produced by evaporation on a cold substrate. The residual resistivity, the temperature dependence of the resistivity, the transition temperature of superconductivity and the temperature of the amorphous-crystalline transformation are measured. We observe e.g. that the residual resistivity increases with the noble metal concentration, and that the temperature coefficient of the resistivity of the Au alloys is always negative. In these two respects amorphous alloys differ in behaviour from the corresponding liquid alloys. These observations can be correlated with the atomic energy levels of the free atoms.