Data Curation for Optimizing Molecular Beam Epitaxial Growth of III-V Semiconductor Samples

This thesis presents a case study on the FAIRification of scientific data within the context of the NFFA-DI initiative, which promotes open science and data standardization in materials science and nanotechnology. The goal was to enhance the quality, usability, and long-term accessibility of legacy laboratory data collected at the HMMBE Laboratory, a molecular beam epitaxy synthesis facility. To achieve this, a complete workflow was developed to convert fragmented, unstructured text files into structured, interoperable datasets using the NeXus format, a hierarchical standard based on HDF5. A new application definition and two supporting base classes were created to model the MBE deposition process. Parsing functions were implemented to extract, transform, and enrich data from heterogeneous sources, resulting in fully structured NeXus files. Consequently, the converted files were validated both in the structure and content. The transformed data were then uploaded in a local NOMAD repository. A custom plugin and dedicated NOMAD app were developed to enable proper ingestion, indexing, and visualization of the new data format. The outcome demonstrates how isolated experimental records can be converted into reusable and interoperable scientific assets, contributing to the advancement of FAIR data practices and supporting broader goals in open, collaborative research.