1 : Surface du Verre et Interfaces SAINT-GOBAIN, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique : UMR125
## Beyond the Spreadsheet: Tracking the "Evolutionary" Life Cycle of Thin-Film Samples In materials science research, a single substrate often undergoes a complex, multi-stage transformation—evolving from a bare wafer into a multi-layered thin film, which is then sub-divided into smaller pieces, treated, and characterized. Conventional data logging often fails to capture this recursive lineage, leading to fragmented datasets where the "physical history" of a sample is lost in disconnected spreadsheets. This talk introduces the **Evolutionary Laboratory Manager (ELM)**, a specialized LIMS built with Streamlit and SQLAlchemy designed to treat sample history as a dynamic tree. ELM utilizes a recursive adjacency list model to track samples through three critical transitions: 1. **Deposition Transformation:** Where substrates become inactive precursors to active thin-film samples. 2. **Physical Sub-division:** Where parent samples are consumed to spawn child pieces that inherit lineage but maintain unique spatial identities. 3. **Treatment Iteration:** Where modified samples branch into new active states while preserving access to the characterization data of their untreated ancestors. Beyond lineage, ELM monitors sample stability via **Aging Logs** to track environmental history and utilizes a **"Flex Column" JSON system** to accommodate the unpredictable parameters of cutting-edge research without requiring schema changes. We will demonstrate how this "evolutionary" approach creates a transparent, searchable chain of custody from the first sputtering run to the final measurement. **Key Takeaways:** * Strategies for modeling recursive relationships in laboratory databases. * Balancing structural rigidity with research flexibility using JSON metadata. * Automating state-transition logic to reflect the physical reality of the lab.
