Differences in Titanium Target Preparation Processes!

Titanium targets are mainly prepared using two methods: melting and casting, and powder metallurgy. These two processes differ significantly in applicability, cost, and performance:

1. Melting and Casting

Principle: High-purity titanium raw materials are melted under vacuum or inert gas protection, cast into ingots, and then rolled, forged, and machined.

Advantages: Simple equipment, low cost, suitable for mass production of large-size targets. Titanium Sputtering Target 

Disadvantages:

Easily oxidized, requiring strict oxygen control;

Coarse grains, potentially leading to component segregation, affecting the uniformity of the sputtered film.

Applications: Low-purity titanium targets, such as in industrial decorative coatings.

2. Powder Metallurgy

Principle: Titanium powder is mixed, cold isostatically pressed, and then sintered at high temperature for densification, or rapidly formed using spark plasma sintering.

Advantages:

Higher purity, controllable grain size, suitable for doped alloys;

Avoids oxidation problems associated with casting, resulting in a more uniform microstructure.

Disadvantages: Complex process, requires HIP treatment to reduce porosity, higher cost.

Applications: High-purity titanium targets and composite targets, such as in the semiconductor and aerospace fields.

3. Emerging Process: SPS

Characteristics: Rapid densification with pulsed current, density >99.5%, refined grain size.

Limitations: High equipment cost, limited target size.

Process Selection Trends

High-purity requirements: Semiconductor and medical fields tend to favor powder metallurgy or SPS processes;

Cost-sensitive scenarios: Casting still dominates the low-to-mid-range market, such as industrial coatings.