Modulation of oxidation velocity in nanofilm processors by in situ electrolyte feeding

Highly accelerated lateral oxidation of the aluminum layer in a nanofilm processor may be achieved using an electrolyte supply distributed above the aluminum layer. Localized addition of electrolyte avoids the limitation of lateral oxidation due to the length-dependent increase in hydraulic resistance of the electrolyte channel. Lateral oxidation velocities in the new devices were 25 to 30 mm per day compared to 5 to 10 mm/day in the classical nanofilm processor. We developed a model to describe the experimental results and successfully predict the lateral oxidation behavior following modifications to the experimental setup.