SILVER-ALLOY BASED SPUTTERING TARGET
The present invention relates to a sputtering target comprising a silver alloy that contains 5-25% by weight of palladium, based on the total amount of silver alloy, and has a mean grain size in the range of 25-90 μm.
1 . A sputtering target comprising a silver alloy
that contains 5-25% by weight of palladium, based on the total amount of silver alloy, and
has a mean grain size in the range of 25-90 μm.
2 . The sputtering target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the silver alloy has a variation of grain size of less than 15%, and/or the grains of the silver alloy have a mean axial ratio of at least 60%.
3 . The sputtering target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the silver alloy has a variation of the intensity ratio between the secondmost intensive X-ray diffraction reflection and the most intensive X-ray diffraction reflection of less than 35%, and/or the silver alloy has an oxygen content of less than 100 ppm by weight.
4 . The sputtering target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein further metallic elements, where present, are present in the silver alloy in total in an amount of less than 0.5% by weight.
5 . A process for producing the sputtering target as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
a melt containing silver and palladium is allowed to solidify in order to obtain a shaped body,
the shaped body is heated to a forming temperature of at least 200° C. and then subjected to at least one forming step,
and the shaped body is in addition subjected to at least one recrystallization.
6 . The process as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the forming step is a rolling, a forging, a swaging, a stretching, an extrusion or a pressing.
7 . The process as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the rolling is a cross-rolling.
8 . The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each forming step is carried out at a forming rate of at least 2.5 s −1 .
9 . The process as claimed claim 1 , wherein the shaped body is subjected to at least one dynamic recrystallization and/or at least one static recrystallization.
10 . The process as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the dynamic recrystallization takes place during the forming, and/or the static recrystallization proceeds after the last forming step.
11 . The process as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the forming temperature to which the shaped body is heated before the first forming step is at least 500° C., and/or the static recrystallization after the last forming step proceeds via an annealing at an annealing temperature of at least 500° C.
12 . The process as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the shaped body is quenched after the static recrystallization.
13 - 14 . (canceled)