Patent ID: 7081148

Claim:
A tantalum sputter target, the sputter target comprising: a tantalum body having tantalum grains formed from consolidating tantalum powder, the tantalum body having a sputter face, the sputter face having an atom transport direction for transporting tantalum atoms away from the sputter face for coating a substrate, the tantalum grains having at least about a 40 percent ( 222 ) direction orientation ratio and less than about a 15 percent ( 110 ) direction orientation ratio in an atom transport direction away from the sputter face for increasing sputtering uniformity, the tantalum body being free of ( 200 )–( 222 ) direction banding detectable by Electron Back-Scattering Diffraction and wherein said sputter target has a purity of at least 99.99 (%) percent.