X-Tended™ Life Targets for Magnetron Sputtering Applications

Over the past year, with gold and platinum prices reaching the $1600 - $2000/tz. range, it has become crucial to make as efficient use of sputtering target materials as possible. In general, thicker target designs allow for a longer time period between preventative maintenance cycles, thereby increasing system uptime and improving cost of ownership. Typically, magnetron designers define the specific target thickness that should be used, which is based on the strength of the magnets employed, the magnet array design, deposition parameters and required thin film properties.  Looking to reduce total overall costs for their customers, Materion has created improved target designs for these applications, called X-Tended™ Life Targets. 

With the right proprietary designs, it can increase target lifetime without requiring any changes to the magnets or magnetron. With Materion’s X-Tended™ sputtering targets approach, material is added to the target, often only in the area of the erosion groove. However, the target material may also be thinned in areas where erosion is low. This approach works with most types of magnetrons – from stationary planar magnetrons to cylindrical magnetrons. An example of this can be seen in the figure below, which shows an X-Tended™ Life Target design for a gold target.

With Materion’s X-Tended™ Life Targets, lifetime can be improved by as much as 50%, with cost of ownership savings as high as 35%.

If an X-Tended™ Life Target that meets your specific requirement does not already exist , Materion will develop a design suited for your application.  Follow this link to request a sales engineer to contact you.