Destruction of superconductivity in disordered materials : a dimensional crossover

Abstract

The disorder-induced Superconductor-to-Insulator Transition in amorphous Nb${}_x$Si${}_{1-x}$ two-dimensional thin films is studied for different niobium compositions $x$ through a variation of the sample thickness $d$. We show that the critical thickness $d_c$, separating a superconducting regime from an insulating one, increases strongly with diminishing $x$, thus attaining values of over 100 Å. The corresponding phase diagram in the $(d,x)$ plane is inferred and related to the three-dimensional situation. The two-dimensional Superconductor-to-Insulator Transition well connects with the three-dimensional Superconductor-to-Metal Transition.

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Superconductor to weak-insulator transitions in disordered Tantalum Nitride films
• Overactivated transport in the localized phase of the superconductor-insulator transition