Deviations from Matthiessen's Rule on the Surface Scattering in Aluminum

Abstract

The electrical resistivity of aluminum strips has been measured for various thickness (0.02-1.48 mm) and over a temperature (1.5-60 K). The results show the deviation from Matthiessen's rule (DMR) Δ s ( T ) on the surface scattering. The surface reflection parameter p is determined to be nearly zero from the temperature at which the maximum of Δ s ( T ) appears. The DMR Δ s ( T ) shows different profiles from DMR on the impurity scattering. The comparison of the present data with Husstad-Lothe theory shows that the effect of small angle electron-phonon scattering is small on the surface scattering. The present experiments can be explained by a term of the surface resistivity ρ s ( T ) (=ρ s (0)+ Δ s ( T )) deduced from Fuchs-Sondheimer theory. It is thus concluded that DMR Δ s ( T ) mainly arises from the spatial variation of the electron distribution function.