Superconductivity of Thin Films of Mercury

Abstract

SHALNIKOV¹ in a recent letter has reported some results on the superconductivity of lead and tin films prepared by evaporative deposition. We have recently obtained some measurements on the superconductivity of mercury films which were prepared by a technique developed by Lovell and one of us². A long series of preliminary investigations showed that films deposited at 64° K. and annealed at 90° K. were practically uniform and coherent if more than 400 A. in thickness. Their resistivity also closely approached that of the bulk metal. So far, therefore, we have confined our measurements of superconductivity to annealed films exceeding the above thickness.