Dual electrical properties of quench-condensed mercury films. Dependence on the substrate material

It is shown that the conductivity onset in cold deposited Hg films on glass substrates covered with a SiO layer corresponds to te film thickness of 4-5 Angstrom in a contrast to films deposited on pure glass, where the conductivity onset can be observed only at 10-15 times higher thicknesses. Study of super-corducting properties of films is also presented. We believe that chemical bonds between metallic atoms themselves and their chemical interaction with atoms of the substrate are very important for formation of the film structure and responsible for a completely different behavior of films deposited onto different substrates.