The effect of electron-surface scattering and thiol adsorption on the electrical resistivity of gold ultrathin films

Abstract

In order to study the effect of electron-surface scattering in gold ultrathin films (∼10 nm), we have prepared a set of Au samples on mica on top of a chromium seedlayer (<1 nm). Chromium is added as a metallic surfactant which enables surpassing the electric percolation threshold for substrate temperatures above room temperature. We prepared samples with the same thickness but different topographies setting different substrate temperatures. These modifications modulate the contributions of the different electronic scattering mechanisms to the film resistivity. A second set of gold thin films deposited on mica at room temperature, with different thicknesses between 8 and 100 nm, was also prepared to compare the resisitivities of both sets through Mayadas and Shatzkes theory. We found that in samples with thicknesses below 15 nm, the electron-surface scattering is indeed the dominant mechanism influencing the film resistivity. To obtain further evidence of this prevalence, we developed a discrimination method based on thiol adsorption. The film with the highest resistivity increase is the sample in which electron-surface scattering is dominant. With this method, we observed that a large enhancement of the electron-surface scattering not only occurs in samples with large diameters grains, but also if the film has a reduced surface roughness.