The field effect of the electrical conductance of discontinuous thin metal films

Abstract

The highly non-ohmic behaviour of a gold film of 210 Å thickness deposited at 100 °C in an ultrahigh vacuum has been investigated. While the conductance at low electric fields is activated by temperature, it has been shown that with increasing electric field its value becomes independent of temperature. The field effect is discussed in terms of the non-ohmicity of the activated tunnelling current itself. It is suggested that small islands between large islands play important roles in the field effect.