Experimental investigation on the bi-directional growing mechanism of the foils laminate approach in AAO fabrication

The foils laminate approach can be implemented to grow bi-directional porous pattern from both the top and bottom surfaces of an aluminum foil. It was intuitively inferred that leakage of etchant from the clamped area can be a feasible cause to have the upward pores grow in the notches of the unpolished surface. This leakage hypothesis has been disproved by the leakage blocking and triple layers laminate experiments. It is further inferred that the non-uniformity of the thickness or material properties of the aluminum foil causes non-uniformed anodization rate along the sample surface. The fast oxidized areas create a pathway for leakage such that a shorter porous array from the back side is observed. Experiments with the process time being reduced by two hours validate this inference