Electronic Properties of Metallic Fine Particles. I.

The level spacing of quantized electronic states becomes fairly large in very fine particles. For instance, it will be comparable to k T at T =1°K if the linear dimension of a particle is 50 Å or so. Thermal properties may show considerable deviations from the normal bulk values for such fine particles. The heat capacity will be reduced to about two-thirds and the paramagnetic susceptibility may be enhanced. Even more important effects are expected for relaxation processes. They are discussed briefly, but more detailed treatments will be given in a forth-coming paper.