Fabrication and Magnetotransport Properties of Carbon Films with Embedded Metal Nanoclusters

2-dimensional arrays of Co- and Pd-clusters embedded in carbon films were fabricated by means of heat-treatment method of carboxylated cellulose films after the exchange of COOH-group protons by Co- and Pd-cations. The sizes of metal clusters within range 10 nm-1μm were obtained in dependence on the heat-treatment temperature. The dependencies of the resistance on temperature and magnetic field for the samples annealed at T=700ºC and 900ºC were measured. The R(T) dependencies both for carbon films with Co- and Pd-clusters can be fitted by expression R=R$\text{}_{0}$ exp(T$\text{}_{0}$/T)$\text{}^{1}\text{}^{/}\text{}^{n}$ inherent for variable-range hopping. In the whole range of investigated magnetic field and temperature magnetoresistance was negative and can be related to quantum interference in the variable range hopping transport along neighboring alternative paths.