Synthesis of ultra thin free-standing through-hole anodic alumina membrane and its applications

Abstract

This thesis deals with the aluminum (Al) anodization, fabrication of porous anodic alumina membrane (AAM) and its application in metal-insulator-semiconductor (MOS) memory device with germanium (Ge) nanodots embedded in a silicon dioxide matrix.Two methods were proposed to fabricate the AAM template. One of them is to anodize Al layer evaporated on silicon (Si) substrate. The other method is to first anodize the Al foil and then separate the AAM formed on Al foil. The AAM was attached to Si substrate and act as an evaporation mask in the fabrication of Ge nanodots. The Ge nanodots were embedded into oxide matrix in MOS tri-layer structure. The capacitance versus voltage (C-V) characteristics show a memory effect in this tri-layer structure.We had successfully fabricated ultra-thin free-standing through-hole porous AAM on Si substrate. The pore diameter and aspect ratio of AAM are tunable. These advantages make the ultra-thin AAM suitable incorporate into other nanoscale devices or structures.