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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 160s. It was shown that an atomistic pillarlike elongated neck is formed by lattice slip and structural relaxation during retraction.
Tokushi Kizuka (Mon,) studied this question.