Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3) Sputtering Targets
Purity: 99.999%, Size: 6”, Thickness: 0.250”
Sputtering is a proven technology capable of depositing thin films from a wide variety of materials onto diverse substrate shapes and sizes.
The process with sputter targets is repeatable and can be scaled up from small research and development projects. The process with sputter targets can be adapted to production batches involving medium to large substrate areas. The chemical reaction can occur on the target surface, in-flight, or on the substrate depending on the process parameters. The many parameters make sputter deposition a complex process but provide experts with a high degree of control over the growth and microstructure of the area.
Applications of Sputtering Targets
Sputtering targets are used for film deposition. The deposition made by sputter targets is a method of depositing thin films by sputtering that involves eroding material from a “target” source onto a “substrate” such as a silicon wafer.
Semiconductor sputtering targets are used to etch the target. Sputter etching is chosen in cases where a high degree of etching anisotropy is needed and selectivity is not a concern.
Sputter targets are also used for analysis by etching away the target material.
One example occurs in secondary ion spectroscopy (SIMS), where the target sample is sputtered at a constant rate. As the target is sputtered, the concentration and identity of sputtered atoms are measured using mass spectrometry. With the help of the sputtering target, the composition of the target material can be determined, and even extremely low concentrations of impurities are detected.
Sputtering targets also have applications in space. Sputtering is one of the forms of space weathering, a process that changes the physical and chemical properties of airless bodies, such as asteroids and the Moon.
Aluminum oxide is a chemical compound of aluminum and oxygen with the chemical formula Al2O3. Al2O3 is significant in its use for producing aluminum metal, as an abrasive due to its hardness, and as a refractory material owing to its high melting point. Aluminum oxide thin films obtained by aluminum oxide sputtering targets are widely used in many mechanical, optical, and microelectronic applications because of their excellent properties: mechanical strength and hardness, transparency, high abrasion and corrosion resistance, as well as insulating and optical properties. All these properties of aluminum oxide films depend on different parameters of the sputtering system, such as sputtering rate, distance between the target and substrate, and pressures of reactive gases.
Aluminum oxide thin films, which find important applications in technology such as optoelectronics, tribology, sensorics, and nanolithography, have been deposited using techniques like magnetron sputtering, atomic layer deposition, electron beam evaporation, spray pyrolysis, and oxidation of aluminum film.
In summary, Al2O3 has unique properties in terms of chemical inertness, mechanical strength and hardness, high abrasion and corrosion resistance, as well as high electrical breakdown field and high dielectric constant. Thin films obtained by aluminum oxide sputtering targets have received growing attention from researchers worldwide. Aluminum oxide sputtering targets can be used in research related to various mechanical and microelectrical applications, such as protective coatings, diffusion barriers, electronic seals, dielectric layers, optical layers, and more.
