ERIS Shopping Notice: New Growth Controls for Achieving Single-Crystal Complex Inorganic Materials

DARPA's Multi X Office is conducting an active market search through the ERIS Marketplace for innovative solutions to grow large-scale complex inorganic materials at single-crystal quality, with submissions accepted through July 31, 2026 and reviewed on a rolling basis. The Government reserves the right to make one or more awards prior to the closing date. This shopping notice addresses the capability gap between rapid AI-enabled material discovery and the slower pace of traditional material growth techniques, seeking novel, non-optical control mechanisms including plasma, electric fields, electron beams, acoustic waves, or organic precursor chemistries to enable precise compositional and structural control in complex material synthesis. Solutions must be demonstrated on a proposer-selected novel complex material that has not previously been grown as a single crystal at 2-inch scale, possesses a clear target application, and remains stable at room temperature. Material complexity must be justified by a minimum of two constituent elements or at least four competing crystal structures. DARPA will evaluate submissions against standard ERIS Master Solicitation criteria with emphasis on problem definition and state-of-the-art understanding, technical innovation and advancement, team expertise in inorganic thin film growth with proven track records, and dual-use impact for defense and commercial applications. Existing ERIS solution providers may flag current awardable solutions via email to ERIS@darpa.mil. New submissions must be submitted through the DARPAConnect ERIS portal during May, June, or July 2026 collection periods using the video title format "DARPA-SN-26-83: [Solution Title]," with notification to ERIS@darpa.mil upon determination of awardability.