Bi. Belevtsev et al., ELECTRON PHASE RELAXATION PROCESSES IN DI SORDERED GOLD-FILMS IRRADIATED WITH ARGON IONS, Fizika nizkih temperatur, 21(8), 1995, pp. 839-850
Temperature dependences of electron phase relaxation time tau(phi) at
different degrees of disorder in the temperature range 0.5-50 K are fo
und from the analysis of the quantum corrections to magnetoconductivit
y of thin Au films, which are related to the effect of weak electron l
ocalization. To enhance the crystal lattice disorder the films were ir
radiated with Ar lolls in vacuum. It is found that the rates of inelas
tic electron relaxation induced by the electron-phonon interaction con
be described by a tau(cp)(-1) = A(p)(l)T-p type dependence, where the
index p similar or equal to 2 for low-resistance flints slid somewhat
increases with strong disorder. In the later case the dependence of A
(p) on electron mean-free path l arises, which indicates that the elec
tron-phonon interaction rate decreases. Such a behaviour of tau(cp) af
ter disordering can be explained by a crossover from the <<pure>> to <
<dirty>> limit, where l becomes comparable in order of magnitude with
the thermal phonon wavelength. The reduced values of index p (compared
to the theoretical prediction) is likely to be due to the two-dimensi
onality of the electron-phonon interaction in the thin films.