Deposit the library
Magnetron co-sputtering from multiple targets grades a controlled composition spread across one 100 mm wafer.
Combinatorial thin-film libraries
Screen a composition space on one wafer.
xemX co-sputters combinatorial thin-film libraries and maps structure, composition, and function against wafer position. After the run, a short call with us settles which composition you carry into your own test plan.
Wafer map 100 mm library
The same library points to different regions depending on which property you measure.
The method
Navigate composition space by measuring it.
Because every position comes from the same deposition run, composition alone accounts for any difference in performance across the wafer.
One deposition replaces hundreds of discrete syntheses.
Every position on the wafer is a distinct composition.
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Deposit the library
A multi-target co-sputter run grades composition across one wafer.
The workflow
From composition spread to a hit that survives off the gradient.
Map against position
XRD for structure, EDX/EDS for composition, and a functional probe, each mapped spatially to the same wafer positions.
Read the landscape
The composition-property map shows where a target improves and which regions to rule out.
Reproduce off-gradient
Selected compositions are re-deposited as uniform films, with microstructure and stoichiometry held constant across the wafer.
Ready for validation
The reproduced, off-gradient film is something a fab, supplier, or partner can carry into the next validation step.
Engagements
Enter at the point that matches the decision.
Library screen
Screen a broad composition space in one run, then narrow to the regions that earn a closer look.
Targeted deposition
Skip the library step when the system is already narrowed: deposit the known composition directly as a uniform film or test structure.
Off-gradient reproduction
The last step after a library screen: reproduce a wafer hit as a uniform film, ready to test.
Where the method works
Systems where the answer lives in a composition spread.
Each domain sets a material question. A functional probe measured against position narrows the composition to carry forward.
Piezoelectric RF filters
Sc-content and dopant screening across the AlN/AlScN family, mapped against crystal orientation, defect density, d33, and film stress on one wafer.
Bipolar plate & PTL coatings
Platinum-group metal (PGM) loading traded against sheet resistance and corrosion current density on bipolar plates and porous transport layers, mapped by four-point probe and scanning droplet cell (SDC).
PEM electrolyzer catalysts
Reduced-iridium composition libraries screened for oxygen evolution activity in acidic PEM electrolyzer conditions.
Superconducting & quantum films
Composition and process windows explored for microwave loss in superconducting resonator and qubit films, ahead of any published combinatorial-screening precedent.
Wide-bandgap power devices
Ohmic contact and diffusion-barrier metallization stacks screened for SiC and GaN power devices.
OER & seawater-splitting catalysts
Multicomponent oxide and alloy libraries screened for oxygen-evolution selectivity over the competing chlorine evolution reaction (CER) in alkaline seawater electrolysis.
Rare-earth-free magnets
Composition libraries screened for magnetic moment and coercivity without rare-earth elements.
Thermal protection coatings
High-entropy alloy and ceramic coating libraries screened for oxidation resistance and CMAS (calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate) hot-corrosion resistance under extreme thermal load.
Technical basis
Fast synthesis paired with fast, position-resolved characterization.
The hard part is characterizing enough properties to trust the map, then reproducing a winning composition off-gradient without losing what made it work.
One wafer compares neighboring compositions directly.
Each measured point sits at a known position on the wafer.
A library hit can be reproduced off-gradient before the next validation step.
Combinatorial libraries
A ternary or higher system, spread across a single wafer and read at every position.
Mapped positions
Enough resolution to catch where a property peaks or drops off between the two ends of the gradient.
Sputter sources
Independent sources tune film stoichiometry during deposition, before a custom alloy target is needed.
Application domains
Piezoelectric RF filters to thermal protection coatings, from the same wafer and workflow.
Characterization methods
Structure, composition, and function measured spatially with whichever probe the target property calls for. Deeper tools come in when interface, surface state, or depth profile controls the result.
What you get back
The library, the map, and a hit ready for the next test.
A library screen returns the physical library, the mapped dataset, and the compositions worth pursuing. When it is the goal, it also returns a selected composition reproduced as a uniform film. Final integration and qualification testing remains downstream with the customer or partner.
The physical library
A continuous composition spread co-sputtered across one wafer, so neighboring compositions are compared under identical deposition conditions.
The mapped dataset
Structure, composition, and functional response indexed to ~342 positions, with candidate and ruled-out regions marked.
The systems it spans
Your library can cover metals, nitrides, oxides, high-entropy oxides, fast-ion conductors, and multicomponent alloy and catalyst systems.
Off-gradient reproduction
A selected composition, reproduced off-gradient as a uniform film you can put straight into testing. Formats span uniform films, layer stacks, test structures, and coated components.
The landscape
The map is the decision.
The gradient shows where a property target improves.
Weak regions are ruled out before they reach a costly test.
Different properties resolve to different regions on the same wafer.
A composition-property map ties composition to measured behavior across the gradient: where a phase boundary sits, where conductivity falls off, where a nitride textures, where hardness peaks, where optical absorption shifts, or where electrochemical activity turns on.
Composition map
Structure map
Property map
Selected region
Lineage
A Ruhr-Universität Bochum spin-off.
The combinatorial thin-film library method and its materials informatics come from Alfred Ludwig's group at RUB (Materials Discovery and Interfaces); the scanning droplet cell and scanning electrochemical cell microscopy used to screen it come from Wolfgang Schuhmann's group at RUB (Analytical Chemistry and Center for Electrochemical Sciences).
Lars Banko co-authored combinatorial materials discovery with Ludwig's group and electrochemical screening with Schuhmann's group, often on the same papers, for several years before founding xemX.
Contact
Discuss project fit.
Bring a composition system, a functional target, and where it has to end up. A short call establishes whether a library screen, a targeted deposition, or an off-gradient reproduction run is the right entry point.
Discuss project fit