Nano-welding by scanning probe microscope.

A novel method, nano-welding, analogous to spot welding at the nanoscale level using scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is presented. Using SPM oxidation of the underlying silicon, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been immobilized to the surface at point sites along their lengths by the nano-welding. It is shown that this nano-welding process nearly has no structural damage to the SWNTs. This immobilization makes the SPM manipulation of SWNTs controllable and desirable, which is helpful for the construction of SWNT-based nanodevices.