Effect of a metallic surfactant on the electrical percolation of gold films

Ultrathin 2 nm gold as impedance-matched absorber for infrared light

“…Figure 2 shows the measured resistivity and corresponding sheet resistance of seeded vs. unseeded gold as a function of the deposited layer thickness. Consistent with previous studies on ultrathin copper and gold films 41,43,49 , the resistivity can be partly fitted by the scattering hypothesis Eq. (4) including a variable offset to compensate the percolation threshold and potential uncertainty of the effective film thickness.…”

Spin diffusion length associated with out-of-plane conductivity of Pt in spin pumping experiments

“…The T -variation of ρ is weaker than ρ ⊥ , which is mainly due to the strong contribution of the temperature-independent scattering mechanisms such as electron-surface and electron grain-boundary, in comparison to the electron-phonon scattering that tends to be dominant in bulk films at temperatures higher than 50 K [43,44]. In particular, for bulk Pt, the reported temperature ratio ρ 293 /ρ 100 is approximately 3.6 [45,46], while for ρ it is only up to 1.5 in 20-nm-thick sputtered samples [21] Given that the T -dependence of ρ decreases with decreasing t NM [47,48], ρ 293 /ρ 100 must be even smaller in our films. We experimentally obtained a value of ( α sat,100 / α sat,293 ) 2 ∼ 2.25, which sets a lower limit to ρ 293 /ρ 100 .…”

Core level shifts as indicators of Cr chemistry on hydroxylated α-Al2O3(0001): a combined photoemission and first-principles study

“…Dielectric-supported films of late transition or coinage metals (Cu, Zn, Ag, Pt, Au) are encountered in many applications for their specific optical [1][2][3][4][5] , electric 6,7 , electronic 5,8 and catalytic 9,10 properties. Yet, a constant concern is the poor wetting at the metal/dielectric interfaces 11,12 which, even in the case of a sizeable coverage reached through kinetic effects, leads to the synthesis of inherently out-of-equilibrium films [13][14][15][16] .…”

“…Yet, a constant concern is the poor wetting at the metal/dielectric interfaces 11,12 which, even in the case of a sizeable coverage reached through kinetic effects, leads to the synthesis of inherently out-of-equilibrium films [13][14][15][16] . Layer stacks stable under operating conditions are commonly obtained through the pre-deposition of intermediate layers of early transition metals, the so-called buffers, such as Ni 1,17 , Ti 2,4,5,8,18 , Nb 1,19 and Cr 1,2,4,5,7 . In particular, we have focused in the recent years on the capacity of pre-deposited Cr to enhance the sticking, spreading and adhesion of Zn on α-Al 2 O 3 (0001) [20][21][22][23][24][25] .…”

“…In such a context, the Zn/Cr/α-Al 2 O 3 (0001) model stack is of general relevance for the study of the mechanisms at work in the buffer effect. Chromium 1,2,4,7 is representative of the class of the early transition metals often encountered in buffers and α-Al 2 O 3 (0001) is an archetypal non reducible oxide surface 8,10,18,19,31,32 . In addition, in the conditions used herein, at 300 K in vacuum, Zn does not stick at all on bare alumina which eliminates any ambiguity as to the buffer effect.…”