Anomalous electrical transport properties of Ag/Al bilayers grown on Si by molecular beam epitaxy

We have investigated the temperature dependent electrical resistivity, ρ(T)ρ(T), of Ag(100 nm)/Al(10 nm) bilayers grown on Si(111) and quartz substrates using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Bilayers grown on Si exhibited an anomalous negative temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR) in the temperature range of 140–165 K of the ρ(T)ρ(T) plot. However, at temperatures below and above this negative TCR region, ρ(T)ρ(T) exhibited a characteristic positive TCR of metallic alloys. No such resistive anomaly was observed for the bilayers grown on quartz substrates. The observed resistive anomaly could be qualitatively explained by assuming two parallel conduction channels, that is, one at the interface having high Si content and obeying the polaronic behavior at <165 K and another far away from the interface having almost no Si impurity and thus exhibiting pure metallic behavior down to 4 K. In addition, bilayers exhibited a sharp resistive transition at ∼6.5 K, indicating a possibility of a new Ag–Al alloy being a superconducting material.