Antimony (Sb) Sputtering Targets
Purity: 99.999% Size: 1” Thickness: 0.250”
Antimony sputtering targets are engineered for precise, consistent thin-film deposition across a wide range of substrate shapes and sizes. Sputtering is a highly repeatable and scalable process, suitable for small research applications as well as medium-to-large production environments. Depending on process parameters, chemical reactions may occur on the target surface, during particle transit, or directly on the substrate—providing experts detailed control over film growth, composition, and microstructure.
Applications
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Thin-Film Deposition:
Enables uniform material transfer from the antimony target to substrates such as silicon wafers. -
Semiconductor & Microfabrication:
Used in sputter etching processes where high anisotropy is required and material selectivity is less critical. -
Analytical Techniques (SIMS):
Sputtering allows controlled erosion of a sample for compositional analysis. As atoms are removed, mass spectrometry is used to identify and quantify elements—even at extremely low impurity levels. -
Space & Planetary Science:
Sputtering plays a role in space weathering, altering the physical and chemical characteristics of airless planetary bodies such as asteroids and the Moon.
About Antimony (Sb)
Antimony (atomic number 51) is a bluish-white metalloid belonging to group 15 of the periodic table. It shares several chemical characteristics with arsenic but lacks the same toxicity profile. It occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust at an average abundance between 0.2 and 0.5 ppm.
Antimony exhibits excellent fire-retardant properties, making Sb sputtering targets suitable for producing flame-resistant coatings. They are also widely used in optoelectronics—including LEDs, laser diodes, photodiodes, and solar cells.
In semiconductor manufacturing, antimony serves as an effective dopant for n-type silicon wafers used in diodes, infrared detectors, and Hall-effect devices. Sb can also form functional alloys and compounds with elements such as tin and indium. For example, indium antimony oxide (IAO) is used as a sputtering material to create transparent conductive films.
