| Issue |
EPL
Volume 104, Number 1, October 2013
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 17007 | |
| Number of page(s) | 4 | |
| Section | Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/104/17007 | |
| Published online | 15 November 2013 | |
Differential conductance of Pd-ZrO2 thin granular films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering
1 Departament de Física Fonamental, Universitat de Barcelona - Avinguda Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
2 Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Cádiz - 11510 Puerto Real (Cádiz) Spain
Received: 23 July 2013
Accepted: 2 October 2013
The tunneling differential conductance of Pd-ZrO2 thin granular films prepared by RF sputtering has been measured. We found that the temperature dependence of 
at zero bias ![$[G(0,T)\propto \exp(-\sqrt{\frac{U}{k_BT}\,})]$](/articles/epl/abs/2013/19/epl15785/epl15785_tex_eq2.png)
reveals the presence of thermally assisted tunneling. The dependence of differential conductance on applied voltage shows a parabolic background which reveals the presence of elastic tunneling in the high-temperature range (265–286 K). Below 
a dip, superimposed to the parabolic background, develops and the increase of at low voltage is caused by Coulomb blockade. This behavior can be described by the scaling law 
, which was already found in other granular materials.
PACS: 73.61.-r – Electrical properties of specific thin films / 73.63.-b – Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures
© EPLA, 2013
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