A method for contacting carbon nanotubes on an insulating surface is presented. Tubes which are already connected to prefabricated electrodes can be visualized in the scanning electron microscope exploiting voltage contrast at low beam energies. Additional connections to tubes identified in this way are fabricated by in situ electron beam induced deposition from metalorganic precursors such as tungsten hexacarbonyl. A resistivity of 0.15 Omega cm before annealing has been achieved so far with this material. (c) 2005 American Vacuum Society.