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The conductance of metallic contacts of atomic size has been studied using a scanning tunneling microscope at low temperature. As the contact area is changed by pressing the tip into the sample, a series of reproducible features and jumps in the conductance at integer multiples of 2e^2/h is observed. The jumps are interpreted as atomic rearrangements, while the underlying conductance structure strongly suggests quantum-size effects.
Agraı̈t et al. (1993) studied this question.