Quantum transport in ultrathin CoSi2 polycrystalline films

Abstract

Quantum transport in ultrathin CoSi2 polycrystalline films was studied for the first time. The temperature corrections to the conductivity of these films and their anomalous magnetoresistance have been observed and investigated. It is shown that they are determined by the effects of interaction and weak localization with the strong spin-orbit and spin scattering taken into account. Unlike the epitaxial crystalline films reported previously our films including one with the thickness larger than 10 nm show no superconductivity down to the lowest temperature (0.2 K). In the thinnest film we used an unusual dimensional crossover from one dimensional behavior of quantum corrections to two dimensional have been observed with lowering temperature, supposedly due to changes of the characteristic correlation length in the sample, which consisted of meandrous conducting paths caused by the presence of pin-holes. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.