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

应用了一种组合薄膜沉积系统，该系统能够通过(反应)共溅射实现多元薄膜材料库的半自主合成，同时从多达8个源进行合成。半自主意味着(I)系统可以在没有用户交互的情况下生成最多10个材料库，以及(Ii)通过与材料信息学软件耦合，可以在沉积系列期间调整或新创建10个材料库的设计。为此，系统软件应能够由外部软件工具操作。这样，在一系列10个材料库中的第一个材料库的高通量表征的结果可以结合到后续材料库的设计中，并且可以对工艺参数进行任何必要的调整。拟议的系统将能够更有效地探索多维参数空间，以发现和快速进一步开发新的多元材料(金属合金、氧化物和氮化物系统)。例如，用于电催化的新型高熵合金至少由五个元素组成，并且需要电极层来进行电化学测量。此外，为了在不改变靶的情况下有效地覆盖多组分空间，必须对溅射源进行置换，因此系统必须有八个源。该系统还必须具有用于半自动成分调整的现场涂覆率测定。溅射源必须能够在直流电、高频和高功率功率谱下工作，以便能够产生各种不同的材料，并通过控制等离子体来调整它们的性能。该系统还应该有一个可移动的光圈系统和阴影掩膜，以便在调整层厚度和成分梯度方面有进一步的设计可能性。

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.