Inelastic Scattering Time and Metal-Insulator Transition in Thick Disordered Bismuth Films

Abstract

The inelastic scattering time of electrons and the metal-insulator transition are studied in disordered thick bismuth films. In weakly disordered films, the anti-localization effect is observed, and dimensional crossover of the inelastic scattering between two and three is demonstrated by changing the thickness of the films. The critical exponent of the metal-insulator transition in this system which represents a disordered metal with strong spin-orbit interaction is examined and fixed to be unity. This indicates that the transition is governed by the electron-electron interaction.