High density, low oxygen Re and Re-based consolidated powder materials for use as deposition sources & methods of making the same

摘要

A method of making Re and Re-based materials comprises steps of: providing a Re powder starting material or a Re powder starting material and at least one additional powder material; subjecting at least the Re powder to a first degassing treatment for reducing the oxygen content thereof; increasing the density of the degassed Re powder or a mixture of the degassed Re powder and the at least one additional powder material to form a green billet; subjecting the billet to a second degassing treatment to further reduce the oxygen content; and consolidating the billet to form a consolidated material with greater than about 95 % of theoretical density and low oxygen content below about 200 ppm for Re and below about 500 ppm for Re-based materials formed from the mixture, excluding oxygen from non-metallic compounds and ceramics. Materials so produced are useful in the manufacture of deposition sources such as sputtering targets.