Patent ID: 7320736

Claim:
A method of forming high-purity aluminum sputter targets comprising the steps of: a) cooling a high-purity target blank to a temperature of less than about −50° C., the high-purity target blank having a purity of at least 99.999 percent and grains having a grain size; b) deforming the cooled high-purity target blank to introduce strain into the high-purity target blank and to reduce the grain size of the grains; c) recrystallizing the grains at a temperature below about 200° C. to form a target blank having recrystallized grains, the target blank having at least about 99 percent recrystallized grains and the recrystallized grains having a fine grain size; and d) finishing the high-purity target blank to form a finished sputter target at a low temperature sufficient to maintain the fine grain size of the finished sputter target.