Electron-phonon scattering times in thin Sb films

Electron heating measurements have been used to study the electron-phonon scattering time in thin Sb films in the temperature range 1–4 K. The magnitude of the scattering time is in reasonable accord with the theory, while the temperature dependence is of the form ${\mathrm{\tau }}_{\mathit{e}\mathrm{-}\mathrm{ph}}$∼${\mathit{T}}^{\mathrm{-}\mathrm{\alpha }}$, with α∼1.4. The value of α appears to be significantly smaller than predicted by the theory, and is not understood.