Experimental verification of new theoretical equation describing electrical conductivity of thin films

Bi0.99Sb0.01 Thin Film Transport Properties and Size Effect

“…The value of λ os equals 58.1 µm which (Table 2) is in rather good agreement with results of [17]. For polycrystalline films, in accord with Mattheissen's rule and the independent mean free path model, the total film resistivity ρ is assumed to be due the contribution of three types of scattering [17,19,26,27]. These simultaneously operating types are: the back ground (bulk), surface and the grain-boundary scattering.…”

“…A great deal of work, both experimentally and theoretically, has been devoted to the study of size effects in thins films [19,25]. In order to find out the size-effect parameters, a simple analytical expression, derived by Teller [25], for the electrical resistivity, ρ in terms of film thickness, d is introduced as:…”

“…Regarding surface scattering [19,25], the specular parameter P takes on values between 0 and 1. In non-specular scattering, where surface scattering is assumed to be completely diffusive, p is presumed to be 0.…”

“…For the more general case of partial diffuse scattering of charge carriers on the external surface, p has values in the range 0<p<1. Many techniques frequently rely on adjusting parameters [17,19,26,27].…”

“…Albeit the thickness dependence of the transport properties of thin films has been intensively investigated, the size-effect parameters were enormously inconsistent [17][18][19]. Such inconsistency may be ascribed to the film structure, preparation technique and the applied model and utilized approximation.…”