Capabilities with capacity to handle customer needs

Protech developed a number of techniques that enabled being able to solder bonding of very small targets to the largest planar targets used by customers. In addition the evolution of these techniques have resulting being able to handle bonding small to production level orders. Working in conjunction with ultrasonic measurement equipment we have in house, we have been able to evolve bonding approaches to most efficient be able to produce high quality bonds first time and every time.

Most recently Protech installed a number of pieces of equipment that have enabled the capability of bonding and de-bonding Rotary targets of any length used today. The equipment are all part of a patented process that semi-automates and reliably reproduces bonding quality. This is due to the degree of monitoring built into the process that virtually eliminates operator error and results in being able to "dial" in the process outcome.

There are a number of circumstances where solder does not work well to create bonded sputter target assemblies. Protech has developed a number of approaches that use elastomer and other vacuum compatible materials to accommodate such issues. This ensures that users of such assemblies will be able to get maximum benefit from the target materials.

For low melting point materials, we have developed casting processes which carefully control micro structure and uniformity, both of which are necessary for superior sputtering performance. Examples are indium (In) and indium alloy rotary and planar sputtering target casting, used in thin film solar manufacturing, web coating and architectural glass coating applications. The ProTech Materials' casting process yields high purity, small grain size, void free sputtering targets.

Powder processing is another core strength of ProTech Materials. Our manufacturing processes are used to consolidate powders for both metals with high melting points, as well as, ceramic oxides . The process steps used in powder based target manufacturing include powder preparation, cold pressing, hot pressing, cold isostatic pressing (CIP), hot isostatic pressing (HIP), sintering and thermal spraying. Careful control of key parameters in these process steps result in the high quality materials that ProTech Materials is known for. An example of one of ProTech's powder manufactured products is ITO (Indium Tin Oxide). Our powder and consolidation processes result in a high density sputtering target with excellent uniformity control, within a lot and lot to lot.

Protech has developed a number of approaches and capabilities for being able to recycle spent target materials. Many materials have sufficient value to consider recycling. Generally precious and semi-precious materials have recycle value. Examples of these are Au, Ag, In, InSn, ITO targets. A number of other materials, in some volume, also have value that should be considered for their recycle value. Examples of these would be materials such as Ta, Nb, Cr, Cu Some considerations that may limit recycling capability is a targets’ exposure to toxic materials. Each case needs to be considered and looked into before a recycle program can be put into place. Contact us to discuss how we could help you.