Abstract
The deformation on the surface of the gold MEMS opposing tips was observed with a transmission electron microscope. A gold nanocontact was formed between the tips, resulting in 92 μA under 1 V in bias voltage. And then, the nanocontact was separated with the retraction using MEMS actuators. After the breakage of the gold nanocontact, the tip was vibrated and performed the cyclic contact/separation experiment. The shape of the tip were initially sharpened from 1.3 nm up to 0.6 nm in radius curvature at 17 millicon times and finally flattened to 4.1 nm at 17.7 millicon times.
