By monitoring the electric current image during conducting atomic force microscopy nano-patterning, a phenomenon that we term “resonant conducting” was found. This was characterized by a sharp peak atV=2.45±0.05 Vin the averaged current-voltage plot. The electrical current is irreversible and decays very rapidly after repeat scanning, which implies that the resonant current is associated with the transient process from a hydrogen de-passivation to an oxygen passivation under the specific electrical field. On the practical side, “resonant conducting” provides a very sensitive method for visualization of H passivation of silicon on a nano-meter scale. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.