Electrical properties of thin metal zinc films

Abstract

Thin metal zinc films 40 to 200 nm thick are deposited by thermal evaporation at room temperature onto glass substrates with a deposition rate of 0.2 to 0.7 nm sec−1. The electrical resistivity is measured as a function of film thickness, deposition rate and annealing temperature. The experimental results show that electrical resistivity decreases as the film thickness, deposition rate and annealing temperature increase, while the temperature coefficient of resistivity increases with the increase in the film thickness. The calculated values of the activation energy for the conduction electrons increases as the film thickness and deposition rate increase. The well known Fuchs-Sondheimer model is applied for zinc films. The theoretically calculated values for the electrical resistivity and the temperature coefficient of resistivity are in good agreement with the experimental results.