The common conductivity of bulky gold is 45.2e6 S/m.
However, in some papers, the value is set as 7e6 S/m, namely, lossy-metal model.
(Operating frequency is around 1 THz, thickness of gold film is 200 nm.)
200 nm is about 2.5 skin-depth for gold, which I thick is thick enough to apply the common conductivity. The frequency is still not high enough to produce Drude effect.
Why they use this value? what makes the large difference?
Is there any reason from fabrication procedures?
Dear Peng-Yuan,
the conductivity of a metal depends on a lot of different properties:
temperature, film-thickness, crystallinity, purity and so on. If we can presume the validity of bulk properties and if we can neglect still the influence of higher frequency then I believe the following:
The purity and crystallinity strongly influence the mobility of charge carriers. Impurities reduce the lifetime and therefore the conductivity. Furthermore grain boundaries in polycrystalline material scatter the electrons back and enhance the resistance of the material. With increasing temperature the resistance increases too. Maybe, the values you cited are valid for higher T.
With Regard
R. Mitdank
Rüdiger Mitdank
Dear Dr. Mitdank ,
Thanks for your answer. That's really helpful.
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