A theoretical description of grain boundary electron scattering by an effective mean free path

The electrical conductivity and temperature coefficient of resistance of polycrystalline platinum nanofilms have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The results show that these electrical properties have been greatly reduced mainly by grain boundary scattering. By applying the theory of Mayadas and co-workers [Appl. Phys. Lett. 14, 345 (1969); Phys. Rev. B 1, 1382 (1970)] to predict the electrical conductivity and temperature coefficient of resistance with the same reflection coefficient, however, obvious discrepancies have been found. These discrepancies indicate that Drude’s relation for bulk metals cannot be applied directly in the nanosized grain interior of polycrystalline metallic films.

Influence of grain boundary scattering on the electrical properties of platinum nanofilms

Starting from an effective Fuchs-Sondheimer conduction model, the theoretical expression for the thermoelectric power of polycrystalline metal films is derived. From the approximate expression for thick films, a procedure is proposed to determine the variation in the electronic mean free path.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0305-4608/10/9/016/pdf

Thermoelectric power of thin polycrystalline metal films in an effective mean free path model

Variations of energy gap, resistivity, and temperature coefficient of resistivity in annealed beta -Ag2Se thin films.

On the basis of the Boltzmann equation, the authors propose a model that includes scattering from both film surfaces and grain boundaries, and have studied the quasiclassical electrical transport in metallic films. The in-plane electric conductivity of metallic films is obtained, and the theoretical results are shown to be in good agreement with experimental data. We also give the relation between temperature coefficient of resistivity and thickness of metallic films and make a comparison with experiment. 2004 American Institute of Physics.

C.R. Tellier

Papers

The Mayadas-Shatzkes conduction model treated as a Fuchs-Sondheimer model