A brief review of high-entropy films Xue Hui Yan a , Jin Shan Li b , Wei Ran Zhang a , Yong Zhang a, * a State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 10083, China b State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China highlights graphical abstract  Composition design and processing of high-entropy films are discussed.  Various properties of high-entropy films are summarized.  High-entropy films for high- throughput experiments are put forward. article info Article history: Received 2 April 2017 Received in revised form 18 July 2017 Accepted 23 July 2017 Available online 24 July 2017 Keywords: High-entropy films Magnetron sputtering High-throughput experiments Wide-temperature-range applications Irradiation resistance abstract High-entropy films are a new type of films which have been developed based on high-entropy alloys. It features many excellent properties, such as high strength and hardness with remarkable strain hardening rate, excellent wear and corrosion resistance, thermal stability, irradiation resistance, high toughness for wide-temperature range applications, etc., which traditional films are incomparable with. In recent years, high-entropy films have shown a fast development potential in various fields. This paper reviewed the recent development about high-entropy films. Preparation methods, composition design, phase struc- tures, and various properties are mainly discussed in the paper, and the prospect of high-entropy films for high-throughput experiments is put forward. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Materials are the foundation of social civilization, and alloy materials occupy an indispensable position. In recent years, high- entropy alloys (HEAs) have attracted a great deal of attention from researchers due to their unique multi-element solid-solution structures, and excellent properties. The high mixing-entropy al- lows them to have a lower free-energy and higher phase-stability. Therefore, HEAs tend to form a single phase solid-solution struc- ture. This type of multi-component solid-solution has a large solid solubility, and its existence allows HEAs features high strength, excellent corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance, irradiation resistance, and wide-temperature range applications. HEAs have become another new research hotspot, following bulk amorphous alloys and intermetallic compounds. In recent years, binary or ternary film has been widely explored. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: drzhangy@ustb.edu.cn (Y. Zhang). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Materials Chemistry and Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matchemphys http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2017.07.078 0254-0584/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Materials Chemistry and Physics 210 (2018) 12e19