Nanotube manipulation with focused ion beam

We demonstrate the ability to straighten and align metal-coated carbon nanotubes with a focused ion beam. The metal-coated nanotubes align toward the source of the ion beam allowing their orientation to be changed at precise angles. By this technique, metal-coated nanotube tips that are several micrometers in length are prepared for scanning probe microscopy. We image high-aspect-ratio structures on the surface of a cell using these tips.