Textured-metastable aluminum alloy sputter targets and method of manufacture

摘要

An aluminum alloy sputter target having a sputter target face for sputtering the sputter target is disclosed. The sputter target face has a textured-metastable grain structure. The textured-metastable grain structure has a grain orientation ratio of at least 35 percent (200) orientation. The textured-metastable grain structure is stable during sputtering of the sputter target. The textured-metastable grain structure has a grain size of less than 5 mum. The method forms aluminum alloy sputter targets by first cooling an aluminum alloy target blank to a temperature of less than -50° C. Then deforming the cooled aluminum alloy target blank introduces plastic strain into the target blank and reduces the grain size of the grains to form a textured-metastable grain structure. Finally, finishing the aluminum alloy target blank forms a finished sputter target that maintains the textured-metastable grain structure of the finished sputter target.