Superconductivity and Tunneling Spectroscopy in Granular and Homogeneous Quench Condensed thin Films

Abstract

ABSTRACTQuench-condensed films of simple superconductors can be deposited with a morphology which is either granular (grain sizes on the scale of tens of angstroms) or homogeneous. Transport and tunneling studies of the normal and superconducting states of these films as a function of sheet resistance have revealed profound differences between them. In uniform films Tc. and the energy gap decrease continuously with decreasing film thickness. Superconductivity is destroyed by the reduction of the amplitude of the order parameter. In granular films, the grains are sufficiently large to support superconductivity in each grain. Long range phase coherence is destroyed by intergrain phase coherence breaking.