CONDUCTIVITY OF THIN ANTIMONY FILMS AT LOW-TEMPERATURES

The electrical resistivity of thin crystalline antimony films (thickne ss 8 and 27 nm) is investigated in the temperature range 1.6-300 K wit h magnetic fields up to 8 Tesla applied parallel to the film plane. Th e films were prepared by evaporation on cleaved (110) surfaces of GaAs substrates. Classical magnetoresistance is observed over the whole te mperature range. Below approximately 6 K the resistivity exhibits a ln (T) increase which can be analyzed in terms of electron localization and electron-electron interaction theory. Accounting for the classical magnetoresistance the magnetic-field dependence of the resistance can be described with an appropriate theory leading to the characteristic length scales L(phi) and L(SO).