Ground-state properties of thin films of the heavy-fermion system CeCu6 with varying thickness

Thin polycrystalline films of the heavy-fermion compound CeCu6 were prepare d by sputter deposition. Films of thickness t = 190 nm were previously foun d to be of good quality and to mimic the properties of bulk CeCu6 in resist ivity measurements. We investigated the transport properties of films of va rying thickness. As the thickness is decreased, the maximum in the resistiv ity is shifted to lower temperatures and the correlation coefficient A in t he Fermi liquid regime (T-2) decreases. This indicates that the coherence e ffects which cause the drop in the resistivity are weakened. The residual r esistivity is independent of the thickness, proving that atomic disorder is not playing a major role. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserv ed.