Platform Characteristics

Deposition-to-characterization path.

01

Multi-element PVD

Co-sputter up to 7 elements onto a 100 mm wafer using DC, RF, pulsed DC, HiPIMS, or reactive sputtering.

02

Physical sample library

Create a real composition-spread thin-film library with 342 registered measurement positions.

03

Composition map

Map element ratios by EDX/EDS or WDX for the material system.

04

Structure and properties

Measure XRD phase data and selected electrical, mechanical, optical, magnetic, or electrochemical response.

05

Scoped follow-up

Scanning droplet cell (SDC), SECCM, XPS, microscopy, or interface analysis can be added when surface change or a localized measurement decides the next step.

06

Next experiment

Measured maps, Bayesian optimization, or Gaussian-process selection support repeat samples or a narrower campaign.

Material decision

Where this applies.

Relevant areas

Relevant materials include low-resistance metals, diffusion barriers, liners, caps, films near memory-device layer stacks, and oxides near gate-insulator layers.

Experimental plan

Create thin-film libraries around a layer question, map phase and composition, measure resistivity or optical response, and return candidate material ranges for layer stack tests.

Examples

  • Diffusion barriers
  • Contacts and low-resistance films
  • Liners and caps
  • Materials near memory-device layer stacks

Methods used

  • PVD composition gradients
  • four-point probe
  • XRD phase and texture mapping
  • EDX/EDS or WDX mapping
  • optical spectroscopy for optoelectronic layer questions

Measurements

  • sheet resistance
  • resistivity
  • composition
  • phase
  • texture
  • thickness
  • thermal or process response

Outputs

  • low-resistance material ranges
  • barrier or contact candidates
  • excluded phase regions
  • samples for device tests
What comes back: Measured film ranges for semiconductor integration or device qualification tests.

Figures

Layer-screening method figures.

High-throughput characterization methods for thin-film material libraries.

Library-scale characterization

Composition, structure, magnetic, electrical, optical, mechanical, and microstructure measurements feed measured maps.Ludwig, npj Comput. Mater. 2019, Fig. 2
Variational autoencoder workflow and latent-space plots for XRD patterns.

XRD latent-space analysis

Large diffraction datasets are organized by phase similarity and structure signals before regions are selected.Banko et al., npj Comput. Mater. 2021, Fig. 1

Closest Evidence

Closest thin-film layer demonstrations.

Piotrowiak et al., ACS Comb. Sci. 2020

Fe-Co-O electrode-stack-related characterization

Thin-film spreads connected composition, phase, surface morphology, optical response, and electrode-layer stack behavior.Open source

Piotrowiak et al., Adv. Eng. Mater. 2023

Perovskite oxide property ranges

Oxide libraries connected phase formation with conductivity and band-gap measurements.Open source

Platform Basis

Methods behind the screen.

Ludwig, npj Comput. Mater. 2019

Combinatorial thin-film synthesis, high-throughput characterization, data handling, and composition-property mapping.Open source

Banko et al., npj Comput. Mater. 2021

Deep-learning visualization and novelty detection for large XRD datasets from thin-film measurements.Open source

Banko and Ludwig, ACS Comb. Sci. 2020

Experimental materials data management for linked samples, metadata, and analysis workflows.Open source

References

Cited sources.

All applicationsEvidence library