Recent experimental studies of the single impurity Kondo effect in thin met
al films and narrow metal wires has revealed that the Kondo contribution to
the resistivity can be greatly suppressed in two ways: (1) by reducing the
film thickness or the wire diameter, and (2) by increasing the amount of s
tatic disorder. In this paper we focus on the size dependence, and describe
new experimental results in this area The behavior of the Kondo alloys Au(
Fe). Cu(Fe), and Cu(Mn) are shown to be well accounted for by a theoretical
model of surface-induced uniaxial anisotropy developed by Zawadowski and c
oworkers. However, new results for Au(Mn) and Ag(Mn) appear to be at odds w
ith this theory. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.