We have studied the delocalization transition of noninteracting electrons in disordered thin films induced by magnetic field and film thickness. We also report results for two-dimensional systems. We have used for this purpose (i) a numerical technique based on transfer-matrix method for quasi-one-dimensional systems; (ii) self-consistent theory of localization for weak fields generalized to situations lacking time-reversal invariance. Numerical results provide strong evidence for a zero-temperature insulator-to-metal transition (MIT) with both field and film thickness. In self-consistent theory we adopt two procedures which give different results on MIT induced by field, temperature, and thickness. The variance between numerical and analytical results is analyzed.

• Received 9 September 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.69.115420