Understanding the stability of thin films and their spontaneous pattern formation upon dewetting is essential to a host of physical phenomena In this paper we study the dewetting phenomena of Au thin films deposited on anodic aluminum oxide (MO) membranes to analyze the stability of the metal film on porous substrates MO membranes as-sputtered and dewetted Au films are all characterized by scanning electronic microscopy and X-ray diffraction We found that both the roughness of MO surface and modification of MO pores exhibit remarkable Influences on the dewetting behavior of Au films The observed dewetting phenomena are explained from an energetic point of view since dewetting is a process of minimization of the system free energy (c) 2010 Elsevier BV All rights reserved