The sputtering process vaporizes a source material, called a target, to deposit a thin, high-performance film onto products like semiconductors, glass, and displays. The target’s composition directly defines the coating’s properties, making material selection critical.
A wide range of metals are utilized, each selected for specific functional advantages:
Foundation Metals for Electronics and Interlayers
High-Purity Copper is prized for its exceptional electrical conductivity. Targets of 99.9995% pure copper are essential for creating the microscopic wiring (interconnects) inside advanced microchips, where minimal electrical resistance is paramount for speed and efficiency.
High-Purity Nickel serves as a versatile workhorse. It is primarily used as an excellent adhesion layer and a reliable diffusion barrier, preventing different materials from mixing and ensuring the structural integrity and longevity of multi-layer devices.
Refractory Metals like Tungsten (W) and Molybdenum (Mo) are valued for their high heat resistance and stability, often used as robust diffusion barriers and for contacts in demanding environments.
Specialized Functional Metals
High-Purity Silver offers the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal. This makes it ideal for depositing highly conductive, transparent electrodes in touchscreens and brilliantly reflective, low-emissivity coatings on energy-saving windows.
Precious Metals such as Gold (Au) and Platinum (Pt) are used for highly reliable, corrosion-resistant electrical contacts and in specialized sensors.
Transition Metals like Titanium (Ti) and Tantalum (Ta) are crucial for their excellent adhesion and barrier properties, often forming the foundational layer on a substrate before other materials are applied.
While this diverse material toolkit enables modern technology, the performance of copper for conductivity, nickel for reliability, and silver for supreme reflectivity remains unmatched in their respective applications. The consistent quality of these high-purity metals is the bedrock of high-performance thin-film coatings.
Post time: Nov-24-2025