pre-printWe studied the effect of magnetic doping with Gd atoms on the superconducting properties of amorphous Mo70Ge30 films. We observed that in uniform films deposited on amorphous Ge, the pair-breaking strength per impurity strongly decreases with film thickness initially and saturates at a finite value in films with thickness below the spin-orbit scattering length. The variation is likely caused by surface-induced magnetic anisotropy and is consistent with the fermionic mechanism of superconductivity suppression. In thin films deposited on SiN the pair-breaking strength becomes zero. Possible reasons for this anomalous response are discussed. The morphological distinctions between the films of the two types were identified using atomic force microscopy with a carbon nanotube tip
