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Project Title: ALD-AAO Nanotemplated Capacitors for Energy Storage
Principle Investigator(s): Gary Rubloff (MSE/ISR/IREAP)
Abstract: We are developing means to fabricate capacitor arrays from anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates (with Prof. Sang Bok Lee, Chemistry) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) for electrical energy storage. ALD provides unprecedented control of thin film deposition – below atomic layer thicknesses – along with the ability to produce such layers in the demanding geometries of nanopores such as produced in AAO templates (15-300 nm dia, microns deep). We have developed new sensing, control, and characterization metrologies, based on release of AAO templates to free ALD-grown nanotubes for TEM analysis, that demonstrate profile controllability of the ALD layers in the AAO nanopores. Our goals are (1) to create metal-insulator-metal device structures by ALD within the AAO nanopore templates and (2) to wire them as capacitor arrays for energy storage. This work has also led to complementary designs for nanopore-based AAO-ALD solar cells, as well as patent applications for lateral as well as vertical configurations for both energy capture and storage devices.
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| TEM images of ALD nanotubes synthesized by deposition into AAO nanopore templates, then chemically released from the templates. |
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Schematic of metal-insulator-metal nanocapacitor array as formed by ALD ultrathin film deposition into AAO nanopore templates. |
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