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Tutorial

This tutorial guides you through a complete thin-film experiment using the nomad-inl-base plugin: creating shared entity entries, running a spin-coating deposition, and recording an XRD measurement – all linked together.

Prerequisites

  • A running NOMAD Oasis with this plugin installed (see Install this plugin)
  • An upload created in NOMAD where you can add new entries

Step 1 – Create a Substrate entry

The substrate is a shared entity that is referenced by the deposition and characterization entries, so create it first.

  1. In your upload, click Create new entry.
  2. Select INL Substrate from the INL Entities category.
  3. Fill in:
  4. Name – e.g. SLG-01
  5. Material – SLG (soda-lime glass, the default)
  6. Geometry – leave empty to auto-fill 25 × 25 × 1 mm on first save.
  7. Click Save (or trigger normalization). The geometry is auto-populated.

Step 2 – Run a spin-coating deposition

  1. Create a new entry and select INL Spin Coating.
  2. Fill in:
  3. Name – e.g. SC-001
  4. Operator – your name
  5. Substrate – click the reference field and select SLG-01
  6. Solution – add a PrecursorSolution sub-section with solvent and solute
  7. Recipe steps – add one or more SpinCoatingRecipeSteps (speed, time, acceleration)
  8. Annealing – optionally add temperature and duration
  9. Tick Creates new thin film and save.

Tip

When Creates new thin film is True, normalization automatically creates - an INLThinFilm entry (named SC-001_thin_film) - an INLThinFilmStack entry (named SC-001_thin_film_stack) that links the film and the substrate together

The Thin film stack reference in the spin-coating entry is set to point to the newly created stack.

  1. After normalization you should see the three linked entries: SC-001, SC-001_thin_film, and SC-001_thin_film_stack.

Step 3 – Record an XRD measurement

  1. Upload your diffractogram file (.xrdml, .rasx, .brml, or .raw).
  2. NOMAD automatically recognises the format and creates an INLXRayDiffraction entry (via the registered parser).
  3. Open the entry and fill in:
  4. Operator – your name
  5. Samples – click Add and select SC-001_thin_film_stack as the sample reference.
  6. Save. The XRD entry is now linked to the exact thin-film stack you measured.

Step 4 – Explore the data

  • Navigate to the INLThinFilmStack entry to see all layers and the substrate.
  • Use NOMAD's Graph view to see the full provenance chain: Substrate → ThinFilm → ThinFilmStack → SpinCoating → XRD
  • Search by material name or lab ID across all linked entries.

Next steps