Granular Electronic Systems

TL;DR

This review discusses recent theoretical advances in understanding granular metals, focusing on how disorder, quantum effects, and confinement influence their electronic transport and thermodynamic properties, with implications for fundamental physics and nanotech.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the latest theoretical insights into the electronic behavior of granular metals, highlighting the interplay of various physical effects.

Findings

Disorder and quantum effects critically influence transport properties.

Confinement impacts thermodynamic behavior of granular systems.

Granular metals can transition between metallic and insulating states.

Abstract

A granular metal is an array of metallic nano-particles imbedded into an insulating matrix. Tuning the intergranular coupling strength a granular system can be transformed into either a good metal or an insulator and, in case of superconducting particles, experience superconductor-insulator transition. The ease of adjusting electronic properties of granular metals makes them most suitable for fundamental studies of disordered solids and assures them a fundamental role for nanotechnological applications. This Review discusses recent important theoretical advances in the study of granular metals, emphasizing on the interplay of disorder, quantum effects, fluctuations and effects of confinement in formation of electronic transport and thermodynamic properties of granular materials.