Voltage-contrast scanning electron microscopy was demonstrated as a new technique for locating and characterizing defects in single-walled carbon nanotubes. This method imaged the surface potential along, and surrounding, a nanotube in device configuration and was used here to study structural point-defects formed during nanotube growth, nano-scale gaps formed by high-current electrical breakdown, electronic defects such as electron-irradiation induced metal-insulator transitions and charge injection into the substrate which caused hysteresis in nanotube devices. The in situ characterization of defect healing under high bias was also shown. The origin of voltage-contrast, the influence of the above defects on the contrast profiles and optimum imaging conditions were considered.

Imaging Defects and Junctions in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Voltage-Contrast Scanning Electron Microscopy. A.Vijayaraghavan, C.W.Marquardt, S.Dehm, F.Hennrich, R.Krupke: Carbon, 2010, 48[2], 494-500