Gadolinium metal

Gadolinium metal sputtering target is a gadolinium metal as the main material for physical vapour deposition, in the form of a block structure, with high purity, good crystallinity, can be stable in the sputtering process to release gadolinium atoms, to provide a source of gadolinium elements for the preparation of thin films in the field of electronics, optics and other fields, and to retain the gadolinium metal’s magnetic properties, high melting point and other basic characteristics.

Characteristics

High purity: Purity is critical for sputtering targets, and high purity gadolinium sputtering targets ensure the quality and performance stability of sputtered films. Generally, high quality gadolinium sputtering targets have a purity of 99.9% and above.

Higher density: Gadolinium has a density of about 7.9004 g/cm3 (20°C), which gives the target better stability during sputtering and enables it to withstand the bombardment of the ion beam without displacement or deformation.

Relatively high melting point: Gadolinium has a melting point of about 1313°C. The high melting point means that the target can withstand high energy bombardment during sputtering without melting, which ensures normal sputtering and the service life of the target.

Magnetic properties: Gadolinium is paramagnetic at room temperature and ferromagnetic upon cooling. This magnetic property makes gadolinium sputtering target has unique application value in some thin film preparation which requires magnetic property, such as preparation of magnetic thin film or in the manufacture of magnetic memory device.

Moderate electrical conductivity: As a metallic material, gadolinium has a certain degree of electrical conductivity, but its electrical conductivity is relatively weak compared to common conductive metals such as copper and aluminium.

Better chemical stability: at room temperature and pressure, gadolinium metal has good chemical stability, but in some special environments (such as high temperature, strong oxidants, etc.), chemical reactions may still occur. Therefore, it is necessary to control the process conditions during the sputtering process to ensure the chemical stability of the target.

Applications

Semiconductor field: It can be used in the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits, for example, in the preparation of metallisation layer, barrier layer and other thin films of the chip, gadolinium metal target is sputtered to form a specific metal film to improve the performance and reliability of the chip.

Information storage field: applied to hard drives, magnetic discs and other information storage devices such as thin film preparation, the use of gadolinium’s magnetic properties to improve storage density and data reading and writing speed.

Electronic control devices: In the manufacture of some electronic control devices, such as thin-film transistors (TFT), gadolinium sputtering targets can be used to prepare electrodes, conductive layers and other thin-film structures to improve the electrical properties of the device.

Medical field: Gadolinium compounds are often used as contrast agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and gadolinium sputtering targets can be used to prepare related medical device components or coatings to improve the performance and imaging quality of the device.

Optical field: Gadolinium sputtering targets may be used in the preparation of some special optical films, such as optical filters and anti-reflection films, to improve the optical properties of the films.

Scientific research field: It can be used as a tool for researching material science to help scientists explore new material structures and properties. For example, gadolinium sputtering targets can play an important role in surface modification of materials, basic research of thin film materials, etc.