In amorphous metals the electrical resistivity increases linearly in the temperature range from 2 to 40 K. This result differs fundamentally from the nonlinear behaviour known for crystalline metals and it suggests the conduction electrons not to be scattered by the vibrations of the amorphous point lattice. The temperature dependent part of the resistivity in anaorphous metals is explained with scattering of conduction electrons by fluctuations of p-electrons. Properties of Amorphous MetalsAmorphous metals can be produced by condensation of the metal vapour onto a cold substratum [l]. In general, additions of other components are necessary. Amorphous metals are metastable and exist only below a temperature of about the same order of magnitude as the Debye temperature. The transition "amorphous-crystalline" occurs irreversibly and is connected with a latent heat [2,3]. From electronand X-ray diffraction experiments [4,5] it is known that the structure of amorphous metals is very much the same as that of the corresponding liquid metals [6]. Crystalline metal films growing from the vapour phase show elastic stress. The same is true for films of amorphous semiconductors and glasses. Amorphous metals, however, grow without any mechanical stress [7]. In analyzing this fact one has to keep in mind that in the crystalline state these metals have covalent bonds due to the p-electrons. The result for amorphous metals seems to indicate that these covalent bonds are broken, which means, the metal atoms in the amorphous phase are less tightly bound than those in the crystalline phase. Amorphous metals have a higher specific heat than crystalline metals [3,8]. Ewert [8] measured the specific heat between 5 and 8 K and, in the case of Bi, he found a T3-1aw, corresponding to the vibrations of an elastic continuum. The Debye temperature of the amorphous * Parts of this work have been reported by D. Korn at the 6th Summer School for Superconductivity of the "Fachausschul3 Tiefe Temperaturen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft" in Pegnitz/Oberfranken, 1970.

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The amorphous alloys are quench-condensed from the vapour phase on a substrate at 4 K. The electrical resistivity of amorphous Ge + 41 at. % Au, Bi + 15 at. % Ag and Sn + x at. % Cu (x = 10 to 80) is measured. An unusual linear temperature dependence is found with negative dope for Ge, Bi and Sn alloys and with a positive slope for Sn alloys with Cu concentration less than 60 at. %. The temperature dependent part of the electrical resistivity is explained with conduction electrons being scattered by p-electrons. The superconducting transition temperature of amorphous Sn alloys is found to be proportional to the positive slope of the normal state resistivity

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