Vacuum chamber for deposition of gradient thin films: Toward high-throughput structure-property correlative studies

The advancement of materials science and application in complex multi-component systems is increasingly dependent on high-throughput studies that can efficiently explore the vast compositional space of materials. However, traditional sample preparation methods often struggle to keep pace with modern characterization techniques and data analysis capabilities. To address this challenge, we present a vacuum deposition chamber designed to produce gradient thin films. This chamber enables the deposition of single-component films with thickness gradients or multi-component films with continuous compositional gradients in a single experimental run. Our approach features a custom-designed moving shutter mechanism, which allows precise control over the deposition process and eliminates the need for multiple samples with discrete compositions. This significantly reduces research time and minimizes inconsistencies associated with the production of several individual samples. As a proof of concept, we deposited single-component gradient films of pentacene and diindenoperylene, which are widely studied in thin films for organic optoelectronic applications, and their corresponding binary gradient film. X-ray reflectivity measurements confirm the linear thickness gradients in the former and the linear compositional gradient in the latter samples.