Target material: the source material for sputtering film preparation, also known as sputtering target material, especially the high-purity sputtering target material used in the physical vapor deposition (Physical Vapor Deposition, PVD) process of electronic component manufacturing, is to prepare wafers, Key materials for surface electronic films such as panels and solar cells. In a vacuum state, the solid surface is bombarded with accelerated ions, and the ions and atoms on the solid surface exchange momentum, causing the atoms on the solid surface to leave the solid and deposit on the substrate surface to form the required thin film. This process is called sputtering. The bombarded solid is the source material for the deposition of thin films by sputtering, commonly referred to as the target.
The sputtering target is mainly composed of a target blank, a back plate, and the like. Among them, the target blank is a target material bombarded by a high-speed ion beam, and belongs to the core part of the sputtering target. In the sputtering coating process, after the target blank is hit by ions, the surface atoms are scattered by sputtering and deposited on the substrate to make an electronic film; due to the low strength of the high-purity metal, the sputtering target needs to be installed on a dedicated The sputtering process is completed in the machine, and the inside of the machine is a high voltage and high vacuum environment. Therefore, the sputtering target blank of the ultra-high purity metal needs to be joined with the back plate through different welding processes (commonly known as binding technology in the industry). The plate mainly serves to fix the sputtering target, and needs to have good electrical and thermal conductivity.
Sputter coating is one of the main technologies for preparing thin films, and its comprehensive advantages are remarkable. There are currently three main types of PVD coatings, namely sputter coating, evaporation coating and ion coating. In general, the density of the evaporated film is the worst, only reaching 95% of the theoretical density, and the adhesion of the coating is also the worst, but the deposition rate of the evaporated film is the fastest. Ion plating not only has the highest density and the smallest grains, but also the adhesion between the coating and the substrate is the largest of the three coatings, but the biggest disadvantage of the ion coating is that the substrate must be a conductive material, and the temperature of the substrate will increase to a few degrees Celsius when coating Baidu, the above-mentioned shortcomings have greatly restricted the application of ion plating. At present, sputtering is one of the main technologies for preparing thin film materials. The thin films deposited with sputtering targets have high density and good adhesion to the substrate. Both are better than thermal evaporation and electron beam evaporation films.
1.1 Industry Chain
Target industry chain: The sputtering target industry chain is basically pyramid-shaped. The industrial chain mainly includes metal purification, target manufacturing, sputter coating and terminal application. Among them, target manufacturing and sputtering coating are the key links in the entire sputtering target industry chain.
The semiconductor field has the highest requirements for targets. WSTS (Global Semiconductor Trade Statistics Organization) data shows that sputtering targets are mainly used in flat panel displays, recording media, photovoltaic cells, semiconductors and other fields. Among them, in the application field of sputtering targets, semiconductor chips have set extremely stringent standards for the purity and internal microstructure of the sputtering target, and it is necessary to master the key technologies in the production process and only after long-term practice Make products that meet the process requirements. Therefore, semiconductor chips have the highest requirements for sputtering targets and are also the most expensive.