Patent ID: 9034153
Filing Date: 2015-05-19
Classification: C23C,G11B,H01F

Abstract:
1. A sputtering target of a ferromagnetic material containing a dispersion of particles of a nonmagnetic material and capable of use in DC magnetron sputtering, comprising a sintered compact sputtering target consisting of the ferromagnetic material and the dispersed particles of the nonmagnetic material, the nonmagnetic material being one or more materials selected from a group consisting of an oxide, nitride, carbide, and silicide, wherein each of the particles of the nonmagnetic material existing in a microstructure on a polished face of the sputtering target has a size that cannot encompass any imaginary circle which has a radius of 2 μm and which has a center at an arbitrary point within a periphery of the particle, or alternatively a size such that the imaginary circle has at least two contact points or intersection points with the periphery of the particle, and wherein, in the microstructure on the polished face of the sputtering target, a largest diameter of diameters of areas containing no particles of the nonmagnetic material is 40 μm or less.