Effect of surface bond-order loss on electrical resistivity of metallic polycrystalline thin films

The effect of surface bond-order loss on the classical resistivity of metallic polycrystalline thin films is studied. The potential barriers due to grain boundaries considered here contain square-well depressions on both sides taking into account the effect of surface bond-order loss for the grains in a film. Electron scattering by film surfaces is also considered following the lines of Fuchs’ calculation. The dependence of the film resistivity on various parameters such as the film thickness, averaged grain size, portion of electron undergoing specular scattering by film surfaces, Fermi energy, and the width and depth of the square-well depressions is analyzed. It was found that the surface bond-order loss changes the film resistivity significantly, and the change in the film resistivity increases with increasing depth of the square-well depressions.