WEAK LOCALIZATION EFFECTS IN METASTABLE SUPERSTRUCTURE NIOBIUM NITRIDE

Abstract

Single-phase metastable α″-niobium nitride thin films have been synthesized on glass substrates by controlled reactive electron beam evaporation technique and are characterized by X-ray diffraction technique. The transport properties down to low temperatures have also been measured. The temperature dependence of resistivity has a minimum at 132 K and shows a remarkable change in the behavior below 25 K. These have been analyzed in the framework of weak localization effects. The analysis shows that the resistance minimum arises on account of three-dimensional weak localization and there is a cross-over to the two-dimensional weak localization regime at lower temperatures.