An easy-to-understand answer to “what is sputtering target”

Well, the question &#;what is the sputtering target&#; may seem stupid for insiders. But undoubtedly it is the most basic question in the relevant industry. Search this question in Google, you may find 3,770,000 results, which is quite a HUGE number! Just compare it with 4,510,000 results of searching &#;sputtering target&#;. (data may differ)

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So here comes my question, do you really get the answer? Well, I guess not, or you won&#;t click into this article, right? Believe it or not, I did the same thing as you did, searching in a sea of resources, but the answer I could find is either too broad/general or too academic. As a result, I got nothing but an advertisement. Trust me, clicking into this article is the best choice you have made! Here I promise you that SAM Sputter Target will give you an easy-to-understand answer to &#;what is the sputtering target&#;. Here we go.

First, let&#;s talked about its name&#;sputtering target. &#;Target&#; in &#;sputtering target&#; is derived from the shooting target, which is very common in our life. In the process of material deposition, the coating material is bombarded by electron beam or ion beam, just like the target being shot, so such material got its name as &#;target&#;. After knowing how the name came from, you may think &#;sputtering target&#; is not weird anymore.

Then let&#;s get to the point. The sputtering target is actually a broad concept, including many categories such as metal sputtering target, alloy sputtering target, ceramic sputtering target and so on. That&#;s why you always find broad answers. So let&#;s just illustrate by examples.

You must have heard about GOLD, right? It is very shining, very beautiful, and, of course, very expensive. Therefore, people often use gold sputter coating instead of pure gold in the daily production, and the gold sputtering target is an indispensable raw material for gold sputter coating. So what&#;s the difference between gold and gold sputtering target? SAME! They have the same chemical substance&#;gold element, but the gold sputtering target is specially made to be installed in the sputter coating machines as the raw materials for sputter coating, as shown below. And it is similar to other sputtering targets. As for the shapes of the sputtering target, there are mainly planar target and rotatory target. For information about these two kinds of targets, you can refer to the Advantages and disadvantages of planar and rotatory targets.

I really hope that this article helps you understand what the sputtering target is. Here is SAM Sputter Target, a global evaporation material and sputtering target manufacturing company. We regularly update industrial knowledge and news on our website, please visit https://www.sputtertargets.net/ for more information.

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We haven&#;t written about sputtering targets in some time. But it&#;s worth revisiting the topic because money can be made recycling them. Sputtering targets are a very specialized kind of platinum scrap &#; and in some cases, of gold and silver as well. 

Sputtering targets are specialized materials used in a manufacturing process called sputtering, which is a fundamental technique in the production of thin films and coatings for a wide range of applications in industries such as electronics, optics, and materials science. Sputtering targets serve as the source material from which thin films are deposited onto a substrate through a process called physical vapor deposition (PVD).

How Does PVD Work?

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is a thin-film deposition process used in various industries to create thin coatings or films on substrates. PVD works by utilizing physical processes to transform a solid material (the target) into vapor and then deposit it onto a substrate to form a thin film. 

Here's a simplified overview of how PVD works:

The sputtering process involves bombarding the target material with ions (which pass through an inert gas like argon) in a vacuum chamber. These ions dislodge atoms or molecules from the target surface through a physical collision process. These dislodged particles then travel to a substrate, where they condense and form a thin film. The properties of the thin film, such as thickness, composition, and structure, can be precisely controlled by adjusting various parameters, including the sputtering time, power, and gas pressure.

PVD can be achieved by using one of these methods:

Sputtering - In sputtering, a solid target material is bombarded with ions, usually from an inert gas like argon. The energetic ions collide with the target material, dislodging atoms or molecules from its surface. These ejected particles form a vapor cloud of the target material in the vacuum chamber. Some of these vaporized particles then condense and deposit onto a substrate, forming a thin film.

Evaporation - In the evaporation method, the target material is heated until it reaches its vaporization temperature. This causes the target material to evaporate and form a vapor within the vacuum chamber. The vaporized material then condenses on the substrate, creating a thin film. The process can be done through resistive heating, electron beam heating, or other methods.

PVD is widely used in industries such as semiconductor manufacturing, optics, electronics, automotive, and aerospace. It allows for precise control over film thickness, composition, and properties, making it suitable for applications where high-quality and well-defined thin films are required. Different PVD methods, such as magnetron sputtering, thermal evaporation, and electron beam evaporation, offer flexibility in terms of materials that can be deposited and the types of films that can be produced.