A porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template with a TiN bottom electrode was fabricated on a SiO2/Si substrate. The anodizing process ended up stably with the formation of TiO2 pillars penetrating the barrier layer, and the TiO2 pillars were selectively and uniformly removed using standard clean-1 solution (NH4OH:H2O2:H2O = 1:1:5). Ru nanowires were fabricated in the AAO nanochannels with an aspect ratio of 10:1 by an atomic layer deposition process using Ru(EtCp)(2) as a precursor and O-2 as a reducing agent. The contact between Ru nanowires and a TiN bottom electrode was confirmed by a transmission electron microscope. The current-voltage characteristic of each Ru nanowire through the TiN bottom electrode was resolved by a conductive atomic force microscope, which showed the uniform ohmic behavior of the contact with a resistance of as low as 2.7 +/- 0.3 k Omega per single Ru nanowire. The stable wet-chemical route to the selective and uniform removal of the barrier layer of the AAO template was applied to devices that require a good electrical connection to nanowires with high aspect ratios, such as sensors, batteries, or optoelectronic devices. (C) 2009 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI:10.1149/1.3207011] All rights reserved.