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VOLUME 90 (2009) | ISSUE 9 | PAGE 676
Superconductor-insulator transition in thin metallic films induced by interface-roughness scattering
PACS: 03.75.Kk, 73.50.-h, 74.20.-z, 74.78.Db
Abstract
Disorder due to small random variations of the width L of thin films leads to scattering for superconducting particles. It is shown for the first time that this disorder, interface-roughness scattering for bosons, gives rise to a superconductor-insulator transition, as observed for instance in amorphous Bi films. We present a model calculation of a disordered interacting Bose condensate in a quantum well of finite width L. Films with L<LC are insulating, with LC as the critical width, while films with L>LC are superconducting. Disorder strongly reduces the critical temperature TC of the superconducting phase and TC vanishes at LC. A phenomenological two-fluid model is also discussed.