  We report on unique electronic properties in Fe-SiO2 nanocomposite thin films
in the vicinity of the percolation threshold. The electronic transport is
dominated by quantum corrections to the metallic conduction of the Infinite
Cluster (IC). At low temperature, mesoscopic effects revealed on the
conductivity, Hall effect experiments and low frequency electrical noise
(random telegraph noise and 1/f noise) strongly support the existence of a
temperature-induced Quantum Size Effect (QSE) transition in the metallic
conduction path. Below a critical temperature related to the geometrical
constriction sizes of the IC, the electronic conductivity is mainly governed by
active tunnel conductance across barriers in the metallic network. The high 1/f
noise level and the random telegraph noise are consistently explained by random
potential modulation of the barriers transmittance due to local Coulomb
charges. Our results provide evidence that a lowering of the temperature is
somehow equivalent to a decrease of the metal fraction in the vicinity of the
percolation limit.
