Anodic Aluminum Oxide Growth and Structure

Abstract

In this chapter, the model for anodic oxide formation continues to tie initial surface oxidation with porous oxide growth resulting in the highly ordered, self-assembled network of individual oxide cells that comprise the Anodic Aluminum Oxide (AAO). The theory for anodic oxide nucleation and growth builds on the mechanistic approach for the formation and growth of the anodic oxide developed in Chap. 5, and continues to explain the process of anodic oxide development and growth, from surface polarization and surface reconstruction to total porous anodic oxide development and growth. Consideration of the conditions created in the developing oxide by the anodizing process parameters, in terms of the impact of growth stress and electrostriction, facilitates explanations for structural order of the oxide network and development of the significant AAO features: the central pore and knitlines that circumscribe each oxide cell in the network, as well as their function in total as a semiconductor, such that continued oxide growth is supported beyond surface reconstruction.