Morphology and Conductance Properties of Metal/oxide nanostructures formed by low-voltage anodising of Al/Та layers

Abstract

Recent study has shown that anodizing of a thin Ta layer clad with an A1 layer (Al/Ta), at potentials 21 to 53 V, results in the formation of metal/oxide nanostructures with unique and useful electrical properties. Further progress in the development of such films is associated with systematic reducing the formation potential, which mainly decides their dimensionality. We have now anodically oxidized the Al/Ta layers at potentials down to as low as 2 V and inspected the films to obtain new insight into the growth and conductance behavior of these extraordinary low-size nanostructures.