Abstract
We analyze the evolution of the normal and superconducting properties of epitaxial TiN films, characterized by high Ioffe-Regel parameter values, as a function of the film thickness. As the film thickness decreases, we observe an increase of the residual resistivity, that becomes dominated by diffusive surface scattering for . At the same time, a substantial thickness-dependent reduction of the superconducting critical temperature is observed compared to the bulk value. In such high-quality material films, this effect can be explained by a weak magnetic disorder residing in the surface layer with a characteristic magnetic defect density of approximately . Our results suggest that surface magnetic disorder is generally present in oxidized films.
- Received 14 March 2019
- Revised 15 July 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.12.054001
© 2019 American Physical Society