Formation of Gallium Nanoparticles by Thermal Evaporation Method in an Argon Atmosphere

The conditions have been developed to obtain gallium (Ga) nanoparticles by the thermal evaporation method in an argon atmosphere on glassy carbon substrates. Ga particles are studied by the developed intelligent analysis method of SEM images. It is shown that the temperature of the glassy carbon substrate and the condensation time of the melt determine the number of the nanoparticles and microparticles. Ga nanoparticles with 10–100 nm sizes and microparticles with the sizes up to 500 nm are formed on the substrates with the condensation time of 10–20 s. Ga nanoparticles have a shape close to spherical, and their amount increases with the condensation time. Increasing the substrate temperature from 118 to 124°С provided a decrease in the average sizes of most Ga nanoparticles by 20% and an increase in their number by a factor of 7–20.