ELECTRON-PHONON INTERACTION IN DISORDERED METAL-FILMS - THE RESISTIVITY AND ELECTRON DEPHASING RATE

The temperature dependence of the resistance of films of Al, Be, and N bC with small values of the electron mean free path l = 1.5-10 nm has been measured at 4.2-300 K. The resistance of all the films contains a T-2 contribution that is proportional to the residual resistance; thi s contribution has been attributed to the interference between the ela stic electron scattering and the electron-phonon scattering. Fitting t he data to the theory of the electron-phonon-impurity interference (M. Yu. Reiser and A. V. Sergeev, Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 92, 224 (1987) [So v. Phys. JETP 65, 1291 (1987)]), we obtain constants of interaction of the electrons with transverse phonons, and estimate the contribution of this interaction to the electron dephasing rate in thin films of Au , Al, Be, Nb, and NbC. Our estimates are in a good agreement with the experimental data on the inelastic electron-phonon scattering in these films. This indicates that the interaction of electrons with transver se phonons controls the electron-phonon relaxation rate in thin-metal films over a broad temperature range. [S0163-1829(97)05340-X].