Resistance minimum and electrical conduction mechanism in polycrystalline CoFeB thin films

The temperature dependent resistance R(T) of polycrystalline ferromagnetic CoFeB thin films of varying thicknesses are analyzed considering various electrical scattering processes. We observe a resistance minimum in R(T) curves below ≃29 K, which can be explained as an effect of the intergranular Coulomb interaction in a granular system. The structural and Coulomb interaction related scattering processes contribute more as the film thickness decreases implying the role of disorder and granularity. Although the magnetic contribution to the resistance is the weakest compared to these two, it is the only thickness independent process. On the contrary, the negative coefficient of resistance can be explained by the electron interaction effect in disordered amorphous films.