What International Centre for Diffraction Data does

The International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD), founded in 1941 as the Joint Committee on Powder Diffraction Standards and headquartered in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, is a non-profit scientific organization that curates and distributes the Powder Diffraction File (PDF), the world's largest solid-state crystallographic reference database used for material identification and characterization. Its core technology stack combines a multi-tiered reference database (PDF-5+ at 1,126,200+ entries, PDF-4/Minerals at 54,900+ entries covering 97% of IMA-recognized minerals, PDF-4/Axiom at 114,000+ entries, and PDF-2 at 369,200+ entries) with the JADE software platform for XRD pattern processing — including whole pattern fitting, Rietveld analysis, and visualization — which works universally across all XRD equipment manufacturers. Supporting products include the SIeve+ search-indexing tool, ICDD Raman Database, PreDICT freeware for crystal indexing, and the new SaaS offerings JADE Pattern Converter and JADE Pattern Digitizer.

ICDD operates a subscription-based revenue model with annual and multi-year database licenses priced from approximately $1,840 (PDF-4/Minerals academic) to $9,395 (PDF-5+ list), sold through direct e-commerce, cloud download, and a global licensed distributor network; Japan, South Korea, and historically Russia require distributor-channel purchases. Secondary revenue comes from JADE software licenses, the annual Denver X-ray Conference (70+ years running), the Powder Diffraction Journal (quarterly via Cambridge University Press), the Advances in X-ray Analysis proceedings, and educational course fees. Customer segments span academic and research institutions, industrial manufacturers in pharmaceuticals, mining, metals, and materials, government/regulatory bodies, and XRD equipment OEMs; the organization is ISO 9001:2015 certified by DEKRA — the only crystallographic database organization worldwide with this certification. In 2026, ICDD formally united with Materials Data (MDI), the developer of JADE software and a complementary partner since 1987.

Name

International Centre for Diffraction Data

Legal name

JCPDS-International Centre for Diffraction Data

Website

https://icdd.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1941

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) is a non-profit scientific organization that curates the world's largest solid-state crystallographic database (the Powder Diffraction File with 1.1M+ entries) and distributes the JADE XRD analysis software to academic, industrial, and government users in pharmaceuticals, mining, metals, and materials characterization globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Newtown Square

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Database License Sales: PDF database products sold as annual subscriptions or perpetual licenses with multi-year terms (1-9 years). Products include PDF-5+, PDF-4/Axiom, PDF-4/Minerals, and PDF-2, available via USB or cloud download. Academic pricing available for degree-granting institutions.
2. Software Licensing: JADE software products sold as licenses. Includes JADE Pro, PDF-5+ & JADE Pro Bundle, and SaaS offerings like JADE Pattern Converter and JADE Pattern Digitizer.
3. Conference and Event Fees: Revenue from Denver X-ray Conference (DXC), ICDD JADE Workshop, and various educational course registrations.
4. Publication Revenue: Powder Diffraction Journal (quarterly publication through Cambridge University Press) and Advances in X-ray Analysis conference proceedings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

ICDD develops, curates, and licenses the Powder Diffraction File (PDF), the world's largest crystallographic database for material identification and characterization, currently containing 1,126,200+ material data sets. The portfolio spans four database tiers (PDF-5+, PDF-4/Minerals, PDF-4/Axiom, PDF-2) sold as annual subscriptions or multi-year licenses, complemented by JADE XRD pattern processing software, SIeve+ search indexing software, and JADE Pattern Converter/Digitizer SaaS tools.

Product overview

International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) offers a comprehensive portfolio of crystallographic databases and software for materials identification and characterization. The core offering is the Powder Diffraction File (PDF) suite, comprising four database tiers: PDF-5+ (the premier comprehensive standard with 1.1M+ entries), PDF-4/Minerals (specialized mineral collection representing 97% of IMA-recognized minerals), PDF-4/Axiom (cost-effective solution for benchtop users), and PDF-2 (entry-level phase identification database). Supporting the databases are JADE software for XRD pattern processing (featuring whole pattern fitting, Rietveld analysis, and visualization), SIeve+ search indexing software, cloud-based SaaS tools (JADE Pattern Converter and Digitizer), and PreDICT freeware for crystal indexing. The company also publishes the Powder Diffraction Journal and Advances in X-ray Analysis proceedings. All PDF databases include embedded data mining and analysis software with standardized data formats for material identification and characterization across minerals, metals, alloys, polymers, and pharmaceuticals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PDF (Powder Diffraction File): The only crystallographic database specifically designed for material identification and characterization, comprising crystallographic and diffraction data with embedded data mining and analysis software.
• JADE
• Denver X-ray Conference (DXC)
• PreDICT
• Materials Data (MDI)
• Powder Diffraction Journal
• Advances in X-ray Analysis (AXA)

Products and services

• PDF-5+ The premier Powder Diffraction File database serving as the comprehensive standard for material identification and characterization. Contains 1,126,200+ material data sets including inorganic and organic diffraction data, supporting rapid phase identification and automated quantitative analyses.
• PDF-5+ Server Edition Extended server-based version of PDF-5+ that enables organization-wide database access and deployment capabilities for enterprise environments.
• PDF-4/Axiom Cost-effective database focused on identification and quantitation for benchtop XRD users. Features 114,000+ entries with 84,200+ having atomic coordinates, designed for ambient entries and fundamental mineral analyses.
• PDF-4/Minerals Most comprehensive collection of mineral data representing 97% of all known mineral types as defined by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA). Features 54,900+ entries with 45,600+ atomic coordinates and supports automated quantitative analyses.
• PDF-2 Entry-level phase identification database designed for inorganic materials analyses with common organic materials added. Features 369,200+ entries with 265,700+ having I/Ic values for quantitative Reference Intensity Ratio (RIR) analysis.
• SIeve+ Search and indexing software included with PDF databases for enhanced data mining capabilities, facilitating rapid phase identification through advanced search functionality.
• JADE Software Comprehensive XRD pattern processing software providing whole pattern fitting, Rietveld analysis, simulation, visualization, and cluster analysis capabilities. Works universally with every manufacturer of XRD equipment.
• JADE Pattern Converter (SaaS) Cloud-based SaaS offering for converting various file formats to XRD powder diffraction patterns, enabling compatibility with JADE software for pattern analysis.
• JADE Pattern Digitizer (SaaS) Cloud-based SaaS offering for digitizing printed or scanned XRD diffraction patterns, making legacy data usable with modern JADE analysis software.
• PreDICT Free graphical user interface for the powder diffraction pattern indexing program DICVOL14, an updated version of DICVOL04 based on the dichotomy method for crystal structure determination.
• ICDD Raman Database Database of Raman spectral data integrated with ICDD's powder diffraction offerings to provide complementary vibrational spectroscopy data for materials characterization.

Quantifiable outcome

• 97% of all known mineral types represented in PDF-4/Minerals database
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Materials Data (MDI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMaterials Data (MDI), also known as Materials Data, creates XRD software applications to collect, analyze, and simulate XRD data. MDI is best known for JADE software which may be found in labs wherever X-ray powder diffraction data is explored. MDI software works universally with every manufacturer of XRD equipment to help provide unbiased results. ICDD and MDI have worked together in a complementary manner since MDI began in 1987 and are now united.
• Cambridge University PresscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCambridge University Press publishes the Powder Diffraction Journal, a quarterly journal of practical technique published by JCPDS-International Centre for Diffraction Data. The journal publishes articles relating to materials analysis, epitaxial thin film growth, and software advances.
• Global Distributor NetworkcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorICDD works with a global network of licensed distributors including equipment manufacturers, regional vendors, and licensed software developers worldwide. Distributors provide additional services such as state-of-the-art X-ray analysis hardware, sophisticated custom software integration, and regional support services.
• DEKRAminorOthersDEKRA provides ISO 9001:2015 certification services for ICDD's quality management system for database operations.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher offers a broad portfolio of materials characterization and analytical instruments, including XRD-adjacent products. As a diversified life sciences and analytical tools incumbent, it competes for the same industrial materials-characterization budgets and could expand further into crystallographic data and software.
• Malvern Panalytical: Malvern Panalytical (a Spectris company) manufactures X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instruments widely used alongside ICDD's PDF database. It offers complementary HighScore Plus software and reference databases that overlap with JADE and PDF-4 product lines, making it both a customer and partial competitor.
• Bruker: Bruker is a leading manufacturer of X-ray diffraction and crystallography instruments (e.g., D8 Advance) that consumes crystallographic reference databases like the PDF. While primarily a hardware company, Bruker also offers proprietary database and software suites that compete for the same customer budgets as ICDD's PDF and JADE products.
• Rigaku: Rigaku is a major XRD instrumentation vendor whose hardware is used in conjunction with ICDD's PDF database. Rigaku also offers proprietary data analysis software and reference data products that compete for similar academic and industrial materials-characterization budgets.

Emerging players

• Citrine Informatics: Citrine Informatics operates an AI-driven materials informatics platform that aggregates and serves materials data — including crystallographic and XRD-derived data — for industrial R&D. While not a direct database competitor, it represents the emerging AI-native interface to crystallographic data that could either compete with or build on top of ICDD's PDF.
• Crystallography Open Database (COD): COD is a community-curated, open-access crystallographic database that has grown to over half a million entries. While not a paid subscription product, it represents the most credible open-access alternative to ICDD's PDF for academic users, exerting pricing pressure on entry-level tiers.

Others

• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): NIST develops Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) and crystallographic data products referenced on ICDD's own website. As a publicly funded standards body, NIST's open reference data partially overlaps with — and complements — ICDD's commercial PDF database offerings.
• Springer Nature: Springer Nature publishes major scientific journals in materials science, crystallography, and physics — the same community ICDD serves through Powder Diffraction Journal and the Denver X-ray Conference proceedings. Comparable as a scientific publishing and conference operator targeting the same research audience.
• American Mineralogist (Mineralogical Society of America): Mineralogical Society of America publishes peer-reviewed mineralogy journals and supports reference data infrastructure for the same mineralogy community served by ICDD's PDF-4/Minerals product. While not a direct database competitor, it shapes the publishing and reference-data ecosystem ICDD operates in.

Direct peers

• Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC): CCDC operates the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD), the leading curated database for small-molecule crystal structures — directly comparable to ICDD's Powder Diffraction File (PDF) for inorganic and pharmaceutical materials. Both organizations curate, classify, and license crystallographic reference data to academic, government, and industrial customers on subscription terms.

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/icddicdd
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/TheICDD
• Facebookfacebook.com/theicdd
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/international-centre-for-diffraction-data
• Instagraminstagram.com/theicdd

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

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