G. Palasantzas et Jtm. De Hosson, Roughness effects on the electrical conductivity of thin films grown in a quasi-layer-by-layer mode - art. no. 125404, PHYS REV B, 6312(12), 2001, pp. 5404
We investigate morphology effects on the electrical conductivity on thin se
miconducting and metallic films grown in a quasi-layer-by-layer growth mode
within the framework of quantum-mechanical electron transport theory. The
film growth mode is described by a nonequilibrium Sine-Gordon model that in
corporates evaporation/lecondensation, surface diffusion, and lattice pinni
ng effects. For semiconducting films, pinning effects manifest themselves a
s oscillations superimposed on a smoothly increasing conductivity with grow
th time. For metallic films, quantum size effect oscillations are strongly
convoluted with pinning induced oscillations, which dominate the conductivi
ty variations at later stages of growth.