AI-Robot-Driven Autonomous Synthesis of Functional Inorganic Thin Films

Abstract

The field of materials exploration is rapidly expanding to meet the social demand for functional materials. Autonomous materials research, which employs artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision-making in combination with automated synthesis and measurements carried out by robots, presents a promising avenue. Recently, significant progress has been made in the development of solid-state systems, in parallel with liquid systems where materials are more easily handled. Here, I present our recent research on the autonomous synthesis of functional inorganic oxide thin films. Through iterative operations of automated thin film deposition (utilizing robots), measurement of electrical conductivity (also performed by robots), and the application of Bayesian optimization (AI) for decision-making, we achieved approximately a tenfold increase in throughput. Furthermore, I will present trends in other countries and discuss future prospects.