Giant Hall effect in nonmagnetic granular metal films

Abstract

Nearly 3 orders of magnitude enhancement in the Hall coefficient is observed in Cu-x -(SiO2)(1-x) granular films. This large enhancement of the Hall coefficient not only is significantly larger than the prediction of the classical percolation theory, but also occurs at a metal concentration identified to be the quantum percolation threshold. Measurements of the electron dephasing length and magnetoresistance, plus the TEM characterization of microstructures, yield a physical picture consistent with the mechanism of the local quantum interference effect.