  We report a method for fabricating nanogaps directly with electron beam
lithography (EBL). The primary resolution-limit of EBL, electron
back-scattering, is reduced dramatically by using a thin-film as a substrate.
We show that this resolution enhancement allows one to fabricate metal
electrodes with separation from arbitrarily large to under one nanometer.
Furthermore, because these nanogaps are on a thin film, they can be imaged with
high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Using these nanogaps
we measured the charge transport through several coupled PbSe nanocrystals and
correlated the data with detailed structural information obtained by performing
HRTEM on the same device.
