Systems and methods for casting sputtering targets

A rotatable sputtering target casting manufacturing process, comprising the steps of:

• loading a material to be melted into a melt zone within a casting vessel;
• sealing the casting vessel and reducing an internal pressure with a vacuum pump;
• heating the material in the melt zone until it is a liquid metal;
• creating a temperature gradient within a casting zone of the casting vessel that promotes wetting of the liquid metal onto a rotatable target backing tube and minimizes wetting onto an external mold pipe;
• rotating the casting vessel to pour the liquid metal from the melt zone into the casting zone;
• actively cooling the casting zone through the rotatable target backing tube to create a cast rotatable target material, wherein the cast rotatable target material is formed in the casting zone between an outside of a first hollow cylinder of a casting zone wall and an inside of a second hollow cylinder maintained concentric to each other;
• and
• removing the cast rotatable target material from the casting vessel by removing the external mold pipe and retaining an inner backing tube.