Enhanced growth of anodic alumina nanochannels on Ga-ion pre-irradiated aluminum

Abstract

Exposure of an Al substrate to energetic Ga ions is found to result in enhanced growth rate of its nanochannels during a subsequent anodization process. Depending on the ion dose, the nanochannels in the pre-irradiated area exhibit different lengths. This interesting phenomenon is exploited by scanning a Ga focused ion beam over the desired area to facilitate the fabrication of arrays of anodic alumina nanochannels with custom-designed super-structure, which is based on the variation of channel length in different areas.