Screening in very thin films

Abstract

Screening in very thin ideal metallic films is studied within the framework of the random phase approximation. In the limit of vanishing film thickness, screening is drastically reduced, from an exponential form$\frac{{e^{ - q_0 r} }}{r}$ a power form (r ⁻³). Friedel oscillations are damped byr ⁻² rather thanr ⁻³. With the help of the screened potential, effective mass, specific heat, collision times and paramagnetic susceptibility of the electron gas are estimated.