The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 25, 2024
Filed:
Jan. 28, 2020
Jx Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Yuki Yamada, Ibaraki, JP;
Kotaro Nagatsu, Ibaraki, JP;
JX Metals Corpo tion, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Provided is a niobium sputtering target having improved film thickness uniformity throughout the target life. In the niobium sputtering target, a rate of change in a {111} area ratio of each of an upper, central, and lower portions of the sputtering target, as represented by the following equation (2), is 2.5 or less, and the {111} area ratio of each of the upper, central and lower portions is determined by dividing a cross section of a plate-shaped sputtering target perpendicular to a sputtering surface into three equal portions: the upper portion, the central portion and the lower portion from a sputtering surface side in a normal direction of the sputtering surface at an intermediate position between a center and an outer circumference of the sputtering surface of the plate-shaped sputtering target, and measuring a crystal orientation distribution of each of measured regions of the upper portion, the central portion, and the lower portion using an EBSD method:the {111} area ratio=total area of crystal grains having a {111} plane oriented in the normal direction in the measured regions/total area of the measured regions Equation (1);the rate of change=[maximum value−minimum value]/minimum value Equation (2).