Temperature coefficient of the surface resistivity of two-dimensional island gold films

Two-dimensional island gold films (2D-I(Au)Fs) were prepared by a thermal e vaporation technique where Coming 7059 glass slides, held at an ambient tem perature during deposition, were used as substrates. After exposing the fil ms to air at a room temperature of 300 K, the de resistance of the films wa s monitored until the films attained short-term stability, namely, invarian ce of the resistance over time. The island gold films were identified by th e value of their stable surface resistivity (p(s)); these values are 23, 27 5, 4.4 x 10(3), 23.2 x 10(3) and 37.5 x 10(3) M Omega/square. The variation of the stabilized surface resistivity with temperature over the range of 1 00-300 K was studied and the temperature coefficient of the surface resisti vity (TCR) was deduced. The films have a negative TCR and for any particula r temperature the magnitude of the TCR increases with p(s). For films with a certain p(s), the magnitude of the TCR increases with a decrease in tempe rature. The comparison between the magnitudes of the TCRs of the studied fi lms in the present work and those reported by other investigators revealed that our films possess much higher values, and therefore this advantage ren ders them suitable for being used as temperature sensors. Our results were interpreted, qualitatively, by assuming that the electron transfer between islands takes place by the activated tunnelling mechanism.