Combinatorial material preparation

A high-throughput and systematic study of complex material systems is described. Initial efforts using thin-film discrete material chips are briefly reviewed from the perspective of materials discovery and optimization, and the limitations of the method are discussed. We then focus our discussion on the experimental techniques based on `continuous phase diagrams' (CPDs) for epitaxial growth of thin films, and mapping their physical properties in two different material systems: perovskite manganese oxides and Ni1-xFex metal alloys. For the former, we discuss the results of mapping optical, electrical, and magnetic properties of manganese oxides as functions of doping concentration, ionic radius, etc. We discuss the surprising evidence that suggests various electronic phase transitions, such as orbital orderings and smectic phase formation, in this highly correlated electronic system. For Ni1-xFex metal alloy, we discuss a different application of the CPD in describing the structure-property relation of traditional materials science.