MAGNETORESISTANCE OF THIN INHOMOGENEOUS GOLD-FILMS

Thin gold films of various thickness (6 ≤ t ≤ 10 nm) are prepared in an uhv system at room temperature. As revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) the films show inhomogeneous hole and channel structures of different sizes depending on the thickness of the films. The magnetoresistance of the films exhibits positive contributions at various (low) temperatures. For magnetic fields B < 0.5 T the experimental data can be well fitted by the theory as resulting from weak localization in 2D. In addition, this also makes it possible to separate contributions resulting from electron-electron interactions (EEI). We conclude-with respect to the TEM investigations-that in contrast to the resistance behavior resulting from WL, EEIs are very sensitive to the local structure of the thin gold films. © 1990.