Silicon-containing transition-metal boride evaporation source

An evaporation source, comprising:

• a target material containing at least one boride selected from the group consisting of:
• TiB2, W2B5, TaB2, VB2, NbB2, CrB2, MoB and HfB2, at least one silicon-containing compound selected from the group consisting of:
• TiSi2, Ti5Si3, CrSi2, Cr5Si3, Cr3Si, CeSi2, SiB6, HfSi, Hf5Si4, Hf5Si2, NbSi2, Nb5Si3, MoSi2, MosSi3, Mo3Si, ZrSi, Zr2Si, Zr5Si3, Zr5Si4, Zr3Si2, TaSi2, Ta5Si3, Ta3Si, Ta2Si, W5Si3 and WSi2 and unavoidable impurities, wherein a proportion of silicon in said target material is at % to 30 at %.

A process for producing an evaporation source, which comprises the steps of:

• providing a powder mixture of a target material formed from at least one boride and at least one silicon-containing compound;
• and
• uniaxially densifying the powder mixture in a pressing tool at such temperatures and at a pressure that sintering of the powder mixture to a solid occurs without a formation of liquid phases.