Reference – METEOR E-Beam Evaporation (Metal EvaporaTion by Electron-beam for SOlar Research)

This page documents all ELN entry types in the METEOR category, which covers e-beam evaporation experiments performed on the Korvus Technology METEOR system at INL.

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METEORDeposition

Category: METEOR
Base class: Process, EntryData
Label: METEOR E-Beam Evaporation

A single e-beam evaporation run. Time-series data is populated automatically by the .nbl log parser. Per-pocket materials and the mask description must be entered manually in the ELN.

Quantities

Quantity	Type	Unit	Description
log_datetime	Datetime	–	Timestamp extracted from the .nbl file header
mask	str	–	Description of the contact shadow mask (free text)
creates_new_thin_film	bool	–	Toggle to auto-create INLThinFilm + INLThinFilmStack entries
elapsed_time	float[]	s	Elapsed time from the first log row
chamber_pressure	float[]	mbar	Chamber pressure time series
substrate_temperature	float[]	°C	Substrate temperature time series
ebeam_power	float[]	W	Global e-beam filament power time series
ebeam_current_percentage	float[]	%	E-beam emission current as % of maximum
rotation_speed	float[]	rpm	Substrate holder rotation speed time series

Sub-sections

Sub-section	Type	Description
samples	INLSampleReference (repeats)	Samples coated in this run
substrate	INLSubstrateReference	Substrate used when no pre-existing sample is set
pockets	METEORPocket (repeats, max 4)	Per-pocket evaporation data
qcm	METEORQCMMonitor	QCM thickness monitor data

Normalization behavior

When creates_new_thin_film is True:

1. Finds the first METEORPocket with a material field set.
2. Determines the film thickness:
3. Uses qcm.thickness_override if set.
4. Falls back to qcm.thickness (parser-filled from last log row).
5. Creates an INLThinFilm entry (named <entry_name>_thin_film).
6. Creates an INLThinFilmStack entry (named <entry_name>_thin_film_stack) linking the film and substrate.
7. Resets creates_new_thin_film to False.

If a thin film stack reference is already present, the step is skipped so re-normalization is safe.

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METEORPocket

Base class: ArchiveSection
Label: E-Beam Pocket

Represents one of the four e-beam evaporation pockets.

Quantities

Quantity	Type	Unit	Description
name	str	–	Pocket label (e.g. "Pocket 1")
pocket_index	int	–	Pocket number (1–4)
filament_current	float[]	A	E-beam filament current (Fil N(A) column)
set_power	float[]	W	Target power (first Power N(W) column)
measured_power	float[]	W	Actual power (second Power N(W) column)
flux	float[]	nA	Ion flux reading
enabled	bool[]	–	Shutter state (open = True) per time point

Sub-sections

Sub-section	Type	Description
material	PureSubstanceSection	Material loaded in this pocket; type a name or formula for PubChem lookup

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METEORQCMMonitor

Base class: ArchiveSection
Label: QCM Monitor

Quartz crystal microbalance data from the Korvus log.

Quantities

Quantity	Type	Unit	Description
frequency	float[]	Hz	Crystal oscillation frequency time series
deposition_rate	float[]	Å/s	Instantaneous deposition rate time series
thickness	float	Å	Final cumulative QCM thickness (last log row) (auto-filled by parser)
thickness_override	float	Å	User-supplied thickness; takes precedence over thickness for film creation
density	float	g/cm³	Material density configured in the QCM controller
tooling_factor	float	%	QCM tooling correction factor

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.nbl log format

Korvus .nbl files contain a single-line preamble that concatenates the machine name, the run datetime, and all column headers without a delimiter between them:

METEOR 08/05/2026 16:06:08Time,Pressure(mBar),…

The parser:

1. Extracts the datetime string via a DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS regex.
2. Locates the Time, token to find where headers begin.
3. Splits headers on ,, strips whitespace, and drops empty tokens.
4. Renames the second set of Power N(W) columns to Measured Power N(W) to resolve Korvus's duplicate column names.
5. Appends a dummy _trailing column to absorb the trailing comma present on every data row.

The parser is registered for all *.nbl files and writes a guarded (guard=True) child archive so that user edits to the ELN are not overwritten on subsequent parses.

Column mapping

.nbl column	NOMAD field	Notes
Time	elapsed_time	Offset to zero from first row
Pressure(mBar)	chamber_pressure	× 100 → Pa
Speed(Hz)	qcm.frequency	QCM crystal frequency
Rate(A/s)	qcm.deposition_rate	× 1e-10 → m/s
Thickness(A)	qcm.thickness	Last valid value × 1e-10 → m
Density(g/cc)	qcm.density	Median × 1000 → kg/m³
Tooling(%)	qcm.tooling_factor	Median
Fil N(A) (N=1–4)	pockets[N-1].filament_current
Power N(W) (first set)	pockets[N-1].set_power
Measured Power N(W) (renamed)	pockets[N-1].measured_power
Flux N(nA)	pockets[N-1].flux
Shutter N	pockets[N-1].enabled	Interpreted as bool
Temp(C)	substrate_temperature	+ 273.15 → K
Power(W)	ebeam_power	Global e-beam power
Current(%)	ebeam_current_percentage
Rotation speed(RPM)	rotation_speed