Resistivity, transverse magnetoresistance, and Hall voltage induced by electron-surface scattering on thin gold films deposited on mica substrates under high vacuum

We contrast the numerical solution of the transport theory published by Calecki [D. Calecki, Phys. Rev. B 42, 6906 (1990)], with transport data published recently [R. C. Munoz , J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 18, 3401 (2006); Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 206803 (2006)]. We use the resistivity, transverse magnetoresistance, and Hall voltage data of thin gold films deposited on mica substrates measured under high magnetic fields B (1.5 T <= B <= 9 T) at low temperatures T (4 K <= T <= 50 K), as well as the surface roughness measured on each sample with a scanning tunneling microscope. The surprising result is that theory does provide an accurate description of the temperature dependence of the resistivity, a less accurate description of the Hall voltage observed at 4 K, but predicts a magnetoresistance at 4 K that turns out to be several orders of magnitude smaller than observed.