Method of coating a substrate so as to provide a controlled in-plane compositional modulation

A method is described for coating a substrate to provide a controlled in-plane compositional modulation, in which first and second targets are activated, with one of the targets being activated by a series of activation pulses to release particles by pulsed evaporation, sublimation, or sputtering that impinge onto the substrate for coating thereof, while the other one of the targets is substantially passive. The first and second target materials or material compositions present (i) a homologous temperature, defined as a ratio of the substrate temperature to the target material or material composition melting temperature of the target material or material composition having the lowest melting temperature, (ii) a miscibility defined by a mixing enthalpy of the target materials or material compositions, wherein the mixing enthalpy of the materials or material compositions greater than zero is defined as immiscible and a mixing enthalpy of the materials or material compositions less than zero is defined as miscible, and (iii) two-dimensional or three-dimensional growth.