EFFECT OF THE REDUCTION IN GRAIN-SIZE ON ELECTRON-TRANSPORT PROPERTIES IN CU-BASED FCC ALLOYS

The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity in the range 2-300 K and the Hall coefficient at 300 K have been measured for the Cu-X (X=Ag, Zn, Ga and Ge) fcc thin film alloys with various average grain sizes. The effect of the reduction in the grain size on the electron transport has been also analysed within the framework of the ordinary Boltzmann transport theory. By analysing the grain size dependence, we could point out that the characteristic features of the electron transport for a crystal change gradually toward those for the low-resistivity amorphous alloys and become indistinguishable from the latter when the average grain size is reduced to 100 A. © 1990.