Temperature dependent electrical resistivity in nanocrystalline gold films made by advanced gas deposition

Nanocrystalline gold films were made by advanced gas deposition. The mean crystallite diameter lay between similar to 10 and similar to 80 nm depending on substrate temperature during deposition and annealing post-treatment, as found by x-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. Temperature dependent resistivity rho was measured in the 4< T<300 K range. The log rho versus log T relationship displayed a discontinuity at a temperature T-cr lying between 10 and 7.2 K depending on crystallite size. This can be understood as a result of rho being dominated by electron scattering against phonons and grain boundaries above and below T-cr, respectively. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)01324-4].