Low-Temperature DC Carrier Transport in $(Co_{0.45}Fe_{0.45}Zr_{0.10})_{x}(Al_2O_3)_{1-x}$ Nanocomposites Sputtered in Mixed Argon-Oxygen Atmosphere

This paper studies the temperature dependences (2 < T < 300 K) of the DC conductivity σ(T) for the $(Co_{0.45}Fe_{0.45}Zr_{0.10})_x(Al_2O_3)_{1-x}$ nanocomposites (30 < x < 65 at.%) sputtered in Ar + $O_2$ atmosphere. It is shown that at temperatures lower than 100-150 K dependences of DC conductance on temperature for all the studied samples are due to the Shklovski-Efros variable range hopping mechanism. It was also observed that σ(x,T) dependences can be attributed to the formation of FeCo-based oxide "shells" around metallic alloy nanoparticles due to incorporation of oxygen in the vacuum chamber during the deposition procedure.