Anisotropic materials, such as rutile TiO2, can exhibit dielectric constant of 170 along the tetragonal axis of (001) direction, and dielectric constant of 86 along directions perpendicular to the tetragonal axis. Layer of anisotropic material nanorods, such as TiO2 nanorods, can form a seed layer to grow a dielectric layer that can exhibit the higher dielectric constant value in a direction parallel to the substrate surface. The anisotropic layer can then be patterned to expose a surface normal to the high dielectric constant direction. A conductive material can be formed in contact with the exposed surface to create an electrode/dielectric stack along the direction of high dielectric constant.