Polycrystalline silicon sputtering target

A method of producing a polycrystalline silicon sputtering target, comprising the steps of:

• producing a silicon ingot by melting silicon as a raw material with an electron beam and pouring the molten silicon into a crucible heated at 90° C. or more;
• and
• machining the silicon ingot into a polycrystalline silicon sputtering target;
• wherein an average amount of nitride or carbide grains having a size of 100 μm or more for samples of 100×100 mm taken from an arbitrary plane of the polycrystalline silicon sputtering target is less than three, and the polycrystalline silicon sputtering target has a bending strength of 50 MPa or more and a purity, excluding gas components, of 6N or more.

A method of producing a polycrystalline silicon sputtering target, comprising the steps of:

• producing a silicon ingot by melting silicon as a raw material with an electron beam and pouring the molten silicon into a crucible heated at 90° C. or more;
• and
• machining the silicon ingot into a polycrystalline silicon sputtering target;
• wherein an average amount of nitride or carbide grains having a size of 20 μm or more for samples of 100×100 mm taken from an arbitrary plane of the polycrystalline silicon sputtering target is less than three, and the polycrystalline silicon sputtering target has a bending strength of 50 MPa or more and a purity, excluding gas components, of 6N or more.