TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF ELECTRICAL-RESISTIVITY OF METALS

A general formula for the electrical resistivity of metals is obtained. This formula is applicable to any metals. When it is applied to crystalline metals, the usual phonon scattering resistivity is derived. When it is applied to amorphous or disordered metals, an increase in T2 is predicted at low temperatures in addition to the increase in T5. The coefficient of the T2-term is shown to be proportional to the residual resistivity. For highly resistive metals, it is shown that the usual phonon scattering is suppressed, and that the temperature dependence of the resistivity becomes small: A kind of random phase model for the resistivity is presented. It is also shown that the resistivity due to impurity scattering increases in T2 at low temperatures and increases in (-T)-1 at high temperatures. The theory can also explain the saturation behavior of the resistivity with increasing temperatures observed in A-15 compounds. © 1978, THE PHYSICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN. All rights reserved.