In-situ observation of the fabrication process of a single shell carbon fullerene nano-contact using transmission electron microscope-scanning tunneling microscope

A single shell carbon fullerene (SSF) was fabricated from an amorphous carbon agglomerate (a-C agglomerate) suspended between two gold electrodes. As the applied bias voltage to the a-C agglomerate was increased using a transmission electron microscope-scanning tunneling microscope (TEM-STM) system, the transformation into the SSF via a glassy carbon was observed. It was found that the SSF transformation. occurred above the bias voltage of 0.6 V without a prominent loss of the number of carbon atoms. The size of the SSFs ranged from C-60 to C-620 having I-h or I symmetry.