US Patent 7323815 - Nanoporous AAO template for LED

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7323815.html

Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates are a structure that is very important for the creation of parallel arrays of nanowires or nanotubes. This patent from an Italian company claims a light emissive device formed from electroluminescent material placed in an AAO template to produce a cheaper easier to manufacture light source. Claim 1 reads:

1. A light emitting device comprising a substrate, a porous alumina layer having a regular series of substantially parallel and straight cavities of nanometric size containing an emitting material, a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are connected to an electric voltage source, both in electrical contact with the emitting material, and designed to excite said material, to cause emission therefrom of an electromagnetic radiation, and wherein said cavities are through cavities configured such that the emitting material is in direct electrical contact with said electrodes, the first electrode is arranged between the substrate and a face of the alumina layer at which an end of the through cavities opens, and comprises at least part of an aluminum film onto the substrate, on which aluminum film the alumina layer has been previously made to grow through an anodization process.