Interlayer coupling effect in low temperature magnetoresistance of amorphous Si/Nb multilayer films

In multilayer systems of amorphous Si/Nb films, the magnetoresistance is affected by superconducting fluctuations, and the difference between quantum tunneling and hopping conduction appears in the weak localization correction to inelastic scattering processes of the normal transport. From variable range hopping results, it was found that the coupling effect is strongly related to the transport parameters of the insulating layer of Si-rich amorphous region, and that the inelastic scattering time also gives important information related to the mechanism of the coupling between the Nb-rich alloy regions.