Semi-autonomous combinatorial sputter system for the synthesis of multinary material libraries

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A combinatorial thin film deposition system is applied for, which enables a semi-autonomous synthesis of multinary thin-film material libraries by (reactive) co-sputtering, simultaneously from up to eight sources. Semi-autonomous means that (I) the system can produce up to 10 material libraries without user interaction and (II) by coupling with material informatics software it is possible to adapt or newly create the design of the 10 material libraries during a deposition series. For this purpose the system software should be able to be operated by external software tools. This way, results from the high-throughput characterization of the first material libraries in a series of 10 can be incorporated into the design of the subsequent material libraries and any necessary adjustments in the process parameters can be made. The proposed system will enable more efficient exploration of multidimensional parameter spaces for the discovery and rapid further development of new multinary materials (metallic alloys, oxidic and nitridic systems). For example, novel high entropy alloys for electrocatalysis consist of at least five elements and electrode layers are required for electrochemical measurements. Furthermore, the sputter sources have to be permuted to efficiently cover the multinary composition space without changing the target, so that the system must have eight sources. The system must also have in-situ coating rate determination for semi-autonomous composition adjustments. The sputter sources must be able to operate with direct current, high frequency and HPPMS in order to be able to produce a wide range of different materials and to adjust their properties by controlling the plasma. The system should also have a movable aperture system and shadow masking to allow further design possibilities with regard to the adjustment of layer thickness and composition gradients.