We have demonstrated the adaptability and variability of a newly developed combinatorial edge delamination test. This was accomplished through studying the effect of substrate surface energy on the adhesion of thin films. In this combinatorial approach, a library (a single specimen) was fabricated with a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film on a silicon substrate. The film has thickness gradient in one direction and the substrate has an orthogonal surface energy gradient. The thickness gradient was produced with a flow coating technique, and the surface energy gradient was controlled by partial oxidation of an alkylsilane layer on a silicon wafer. Applying a constant temperature to the specimen, interfacial debonding events were observed and a distribution of failure was constructed. Our results demonstrate the proposed combinatorial methodology for rapidly and efficiently evaluating the adhesion of general film/substrate systems as a function of many controllable parameters. In addition, this methodology can be used to predict the reliability distributions of the adhesion for practical parameters. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.