INSULATING PHASE OF MERCURY IN COLD-DEPOSITED FILMS

We present experimental evidences that mercury forms a metastable insu lating phase in films condensed on glass substrates at low temperature s. This phase exists in films only up to some critical thickness d(c) almost-equal-to 60 angstrom. Our results cannot be explained by the as sumption that films have an islands structure. We believe that similar phases exist also in quench-condensed lead films and, may be, in some other metals. The possibility that disordered system of metallic atom s can form an insulator has never been considered.