Percolation and the Phase Slip in Granular SmFeAsO1-xFx Thin Films

Abstract

A set of granular SmFeAsO1-xFx films were synthesized on LaAlO3 substrates with different percentage of the coverage of the substrate surface, and then their electrical properties were studied. At high temperatures, as the substrate coverage is increased, the films go from an insulating to a metallic behavior; and then, at low temperatures, the films that present a resistance RN of few kOhms in the normal state show a transition to the superconducting state with a width in the R(T) curves that changes with the coverage of the substrate surface. The line shape of these curves can be explained by the Ambegaokar-Halperin (AH) model of the resistance produced by the thermal activated phase slippage at the intergranular junctions if the dimensionality for the films is presumed appropriately. For the thicker films, that can be considered as a 3D network of the Josephson junctions, a temperature dependence of the AH parameter gamma given by simA(1 − t)3/2, fits the R(T) curve satisfactorily. However, for the films that cover the surface of the substrates only partially, the AH model fits the R(T) curves only if gamma ~ A´(1 − t2)2, which is suitable for a 2D network of the Josephson junctions.