# US 12,601,040 B2 · Aluminum scandium alloy target and method of manufacturing the same > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,601,040 B2 - Document ID: US12601040B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/633,847 - Filed: 2020-08-07 - Published: 2022-09-15 - Granted: 2026-04-14 - Earliest claimed: 2019-08-08 - Assignees: Hunan Rare Earth Metal Material Research Institute Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Hunan Rare Earth Metal Material Research Institute Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Pei Huang; Meisong Huang; Zhijian Wang; Hua Liu; Yuehua Deng; Xiaobo Ma; Kang Wen; Wei Liu - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12601040B2 ## CPC - C22F 1/04: of aluminium or alloys based thereon - C22C 1/026: {Alloys based on aluminium} - C22C 21/00: Alloys based on aluminium - C23C 14/3414: {Metallurgical or chemical aspects of target preparation, e.g. casting, powder metallurgy} - C22F: CHANGING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF NON-FERROUS METALS AND NON-FERROUS ALLOYS (surface treatment of metallic material involving at least one process provided for in class C23 and at least one process covered by this subclass, C23F17/00) - C22C: ALLOYS (treatment of alloys C21D, C22F) - C23C: COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL (making metal-coated products by extrusion B21C23/22; covering with metal by connecting pre-existing layers to articles, see the relevant places, e.g. B21D39/00, B23K; metallising of glass C03C; metallising mortars, concrete, artificial stone, ceramics or natural stone C04B41/00; enamelling of, or applying a vitreous layer to, metals C23D; treating metal surfaces or coating of metals by electrolysis or electrophoresis C25D; single-crystal film growth C30B; by metallising textiles D06M11/83; decorating textiles by locally metallising D06Q1/04) ## Abstract Provided are an aluminum scandium alloy target and a method of manufacturing the same. The method comprises: preparing metal aluminum and metal scandium with purities of 99.99% or more respectively; mixing the metal aluminum into the metal scandium and smelting through a plurality of cycles to obtain a desired aluminum scandium alloy, in which the metal scandium account for 5-40 wt % and the metal aluminum account for 60-95 wt %; injecting the aluminum scandium alloy into a mold to obtain an aluminum scandium alloy target billet; and mechanically processing the billet to obtain the aluminum scandium alloy target. The method addresses the problems of the prior art in which uniform distributions of ingredients in the target are difficult to achieve, scandium is not uniformly distributed, and the target has a high oxide content, a low compactness, a low alloy purity and are unsuitable for manufacturing a sputter coating. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of manufacturing an aluminum scandium alloy target, comprising: preparing metal aluminum with a purity of 99.99% or more and metal scandium with a purity of 99.99% or more; mixing the metal aluminum into the metal scandium and smelting through a plurality of cycles of mixing and smelting to obtain a desired aluminum scandium alloy in which the metal scandium account for 5-40 wt % and the metal aluminum account for 60-95 wt %; injecting the aluminum scandium alloy into a mold to obtain an aluminum scandium alloy target billet; and machining the aluminum scandium alloy target billet to obtain the aluminum scandium alloy target, wherein, in the step of mixing the metal aluminum into the metal scandium and smelting, a weight of the metal aluminum mixed into the metal scandium in each cycle is less than or equal to 200% of the total weight of the metal scandium. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein temperature is maintained for 5-15 minutes during smelting in each cycle, and is cooled, and then a next cycle of mixing and smelting is performed until the desired aluminum scandium alloy is obtained. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the smelting is performed in a levitation furnace in a vacuum state less than 1 Pa and under inert gas atmosphere. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the mold is a water-cooled copper casting mold. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprises steps of peeling, die forging, hot rolling, leveling and annealing the aluminum scandium alloy target billet before the step of machining the aluminum scandium alloy target billet. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the steps of peeling, die forging, hot rolling, leveling and annealing the aluminum scandium alloy target billet comprises: peeling the aluminum scandium alloy target billet; maintaining the peeled target billet at a temperature of 300° C.-750° C. for 60 minutes, then die forging the target billet under a pressure of 100 MPa-400 MPa with a forging ratio of 1.05-1.2; maintaining the die-forged aluminum scandium target billet at 300° C.-750° C. for 20-50 minutes and then rolling the aluminum scandium target billet, wherein a total reduction is less than or equal to 35%; leveling the rolled aluminum scandium target billet; and stress relief annealing the aluminum scandium target billet in a vacuum annealing furnace at a temperature of 300° C.-750° C. during a time period of 30-60 minutes and under inert gas atmosphere. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the obtained aluminum scandium alloy target billet has oxide content less than 100 ppm and an average grain size less than 100 μm.