The Status Quo and Development Trend of High-purity Gold Sputtering Targets

This article gives a brief introduction to manufacturers and markets of sputtering targets as well as the manufacturing technology thereof. Then, it analyzes the application of high-purity gold sputtering targets in the fields of integrated circuit, information storage, flat panel display, etc. Based on the above, the article analyzes the processing development trend for the high-purity gold sputtering targets in aspects of ultra-high purity, manufacturing technology, analysis and testing technologies.

Fabrication and properties of ZAO powder,sputtering target materials and the related films

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide （ZnO：Al）, abbreviated as ZAO, is a novel and widely used transparent conductive material. The ZAO powder was synthesized by chemical coprecipitation. The ZAO ceramic sputtering target materials were fabricated by sintering in air, and ZAO transparent conductive films were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering on glass substrates. XRD proved that such films had an orientation of （002） crystal panel paralleled to the surface of the glass substrate. The average transmittance of the films in the visible region exceeded 80%.

Research on fabricating technique of Ba-Al-S:Eu sputtering target

Ba-Al-S-Eu sputtering target for blue emitting phosphors was prepared by powder sintering method. XRD patterns showed that the main components of the target were barium tetra aluminum sulfide （BaAl4S7）, bariutm sulfide （BaS）, and europium sulfide （EuS）. In the samples, part of the barium and aluminum are formed into barium aluminum oxide （BaAl2O4） with the impurity element of oxygen. The PL characteristic spectra of the target showed the 470 nm blue emission obviously, and the Ba-Al-S thin films also transmitted a purple-blue emission at the position of 440 nm.The results indicated that this method was suitable for the fabrication of the Ba-Al-S：Eu sputtering target.

Effect of harmonic magnetic field and pulse magnetic field on microstructure of high purity Cu during electromagnetic direct chill casting

The effects of two types of magnetic fields,namely harmonic magnetic field(HMF)and pulse magnetic field(PMF)on magnetic flux density,Lorentz force,temperature field,and microstructure of high purity Cu were studied by numerical simulation and experiment during electromagnetic direct chill casting.The magnetic field is induced by a magnetic generation system including an electromagnetic control system and a cylindrical crystallizer of 300 mm in diameter equipped with excitation coils.A comprehensive mathematical model for high purity Cu electromagnetic casting was established in finite element method.The distributions of magnetic flux density and Lorentz force generated by the two magnetic fields were acquired by simulation and experimental measurement.The microstructure of billets produced by HMF and PMF casting was compared.Results show that the magnetic flux density and penetrability of PMF are significantly higher than those of HMF,due to its faster variation in transient current and higher peak value of magnetic flux density.In addition,PMF drives a stronger Lorentz force and deeper penetration depth than HMF does,because HMF creates higher eddy current and reverse electromagnetic field which weakens the original electromagnetic field.The microstructure of a billet by HMF is composed of columnar structure regions and central fine grain regions.By contrast,the billet by PMF has a uniform microstructure which is characterized by ultra-refined and uniform grains because PMF drives a strong dual convection,which increases the uniformity of the temperature field,enhances the impact of the liquid flow on the edge of the liquid pool and reduces the curvature radius of liquid pool.Eventually,PMF shows a good prospect for industrialization.

Deposition of Phase-pure Cr2AlC Coating by DC Magnetron Sputtering and Post Annealing Using Cr-Al-C Targets with Controlled Elemental Composition but Different Phase Compositions

Polycrystalline Cr2AlC coatings were prepared on M38G superalloy using a two-step method consisting of magnetron sputtering from Cr-Al-C composite targets at room temperature and subsequent annealing at 620 ℃. Particularly, various targets synthesized by hot pressing mixture of Cr, Al, and C powders at 650-1000 ℃ were used. It was found that regardless of the phase compositions and density of the com- posite targets, when the molar ratio of Cr：Al：C in the starting materials was 2：1：1, phase-pure crystalline Cr2AlC coatings were prepared by magnetron sputtering and post crystallization. The Cr2AIC coatings were dense and crack-free and had a duplex structure. The adhesion strength of the coating deposited on M38G superalloy from the 800 ℃ hot-pressed target and then annealed at 620 ℃ for 20 h in Ar exceeded 82 ± 6 MPa, while its hardness was 12 ± 3 GPa.

Controlled synthesis of monodispersed spherical ruthenium powders

Monodispersed spherical Ru powders are essential for fabricating high-performance Ru sputtering targets,which have applications in very-large-scale integration circuits and magnetic recording devices.However,the synthesis of such powders remains a major challenge.Here,we reported the synthesis of monodispersed spherical Ru powders through controlling the molar ratio of SO_(4)^(2-)to Ru^(3+)in urea homogeneous precipitation solution and the annealing conditions.Without the addition of(NH4)2SO_(4)into the reaction solution,only gel-like precipitation particles were obtained.Once introducing(NH_(4))_(2)SO_(4) into the reaction solution and controlling the molar ratio of SO_(4)^(2-)to Ru3+between 0.50 and 1.00,monodispersed spherical precursor powders were obtained.The nucleation and growth of monodispersed spherical precursor particles in solution were found to conform to LaMer's model.Through controlled annealing at 450℃in a hydrogen atmosphere,the obtained metallic Ru powder with an average particle size of 135 nm inherited the spherical morphology and excellent dispersity from the monodispersed spherical precursor powders.These results and findings would deepen the understanding of the preparation of monodispersed Ru and Ru-like powders.

Correlation between pass-through flux of cobalt target and microstructure and magnetic properties of sputtered thin films

Cobalt thin films were deposited on silicon substrates by magnetron sputtering two commercial cobalt targets with different pass-through fluxes(PTFs).The influences of PTF on the magnetic properties of sputtered thin films were investigated.The results indicate that under the same sputtering conditions,cobalt thin film deposited by Co target with high PTF(84.21%) has lower remanence ratio(0.65),while cobalt thin film prepared by Co target with low PTF(69.13%) has higher remanence ratio(0.87).Through introducing an external magnetic field parallel to the film surface during sputtering processes,both the remanence ratios of cobalt thin films prepared by the two targets can be enhanced to approach 1.High-resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM) images show that in the absence of the external magnetic field during sputtering,cobalt thin film deposited by the target with high PTF is randomly oriented in crystallographic orientations,which is due to that Co atoms have no enough time to migrate and diffuse on substrate and the atomic stacking is disordered.It is worth mentioning that crystallographic orientations of cobalt thin film deposited by target with low PTF are relatively consistent,resulting in relatively higher remanence ratio.In addition,HRTEM analysis indicates that the external magnetic field during sputtering drives the Co grains to arrange in a regular order with(002) orientation,leading to the improvement in remanence ratios.