Abstract
The surface bond nature of face centered cubic metals has been controversial between hardening and softening theoretically because of the lack of precise measurement. Here, we precisely measured the size dependence of Young's modulus of gold [111] nanocontacts with a clean surface by our insitu TEM-frequency modulation force sensing method in ultrahigh vacuum at room temperature. Young's modulus gradually decreased from ca. 80 to 30GPa, as the nanocontact width decreased below 2nm, which could be explained by surface softening; Young's modulus of the outermost atomic layer was estimated to be approximately 22GPa, while that of the other part was almost the same with the bulk.
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