Atomic Process of Point Contact in Gold Studied by Time-Resolved High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy
- 16 November 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 81 (20), 4448-4451
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.81.4448
Abstract
Contact and subsequent retraction between nanometer-sized gold tips were controlled at an atomic scale using a piezoelectric device at room temperature inside a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The atomic process of the point contact was observed in situ at a spatial resolution of 0.2 nm and at a time resolution of . It was shown that an atomistic pillarlike elongated neck is formed by lattice slip and structural relaxation during retraction.
Keywords
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