Slow Conductance Relaxation in Insulating Granular Al: Evidence for Screening Effects

It is shown that the conductance relaxations observed in electrical field effect measurements on granular Al films are the sum of two contributions. One is sensitive to gate voltage changes and gives the already reported anomalous electrical field effect. The other one is independent of the gate voltage history and starts when the films are cooled down to low temperature. Their relative amplitude is strongly thickness-dependent which demonstrates the existence of a finite screening length in our insulating films and allows its quantitative estimate (about 10 nm at 4 K). This metalliclike screening should be taken into account in the electron glass models of disordered insulators.