Porous anodic alumina (PAA), comprising arranged pores in hexagonal cells obtained by anodizing aluminum
(Al), has been studied and is usually used as a template for synthesizing one-dimensional nanostructure.
However, there is growing interest in more effective applications with tunable pores and more complex structures with reasonable cost. For example, the branching and interconnected pores are obtained in multiple bifurcations under certain anodizing conditions. From manufacturing perspectives, large-area anodization on
special substrates, such as Si, is extremely significant and required. Herein, we present a robust analysis of
the different types of branched and modulated pores in the PAA templates; the newly developed methodology
and the morphological evolution of each type are discussed. The proposed anodizing strategies help reduce
anodizing time and result in smaller pore sizes than those obtained by the traditional methods. Therefore, they
be effectively implemented for separation science technology. Furthermore, the work was extended to anodize
a full Al wafer (200 mm in diameter) on a Si wafer without lithography or pretemplating. Additionally, the
required anodizing conditions to prevent PAA from burning were followed. The opportunities for this PAA template to serve as generic templates for potential applications will be explored and discussed. The anodization of
annealed Al/SiO2films can be used to create highly hexagonal ordered arrays of alumina nanodots between
alumina and SiO2 substrate, which were observed when the anodized sample was cleaved. Therefore, the
obtained results could help, from manufacturing perspectives, modulate pores and a large area of the PAA
on special substrates, such as Si, for many technological applications.