We present a fully first-principles method for superconducting thin films. The layer dependent phonon spectrum is calculated to determine the layer dependence of the electron-phonon coupling for such systems, which is coupled to the Kohn-Sham-Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, and it is solved in a parameter free way. The theory is then applied to different surface facets of niobium slabs and to niobium-gold heterostructures. We investigate the dependence of the transition temperature on the thickness of the slabs and the inverse proximity effect observed in thin superconducting heterostructures.
@article{arxiv.1607.00528,
title = {First-principles approach to thin superconducting slabs and heterostructures},
author = {Gábor Csire and Stephan Schönecker and Balázs Újfalussy},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.00528},
year = {2016}
}