Backing Plates

Oxygen free, high conductivity (OFHC) copper is a common backing plate material. It has good electrical and thermal characteristics, is easy to machine and is readily available at economic prices. Aluminium, molybdenum and stainless steel can also be used for backing plate fabrication when copper is not appropriate. As an example, the desired sputtering target material may have a non-compatible coefficient of expansion compared to that of copper which can cause the bonded target assembly to fail irrecoverably. In such a case, the use of an alternative backing plate metal is essential. In many instances, backing plates can be retrieved from spent sputtering target backing plate assemblies. The recovered backing plate is then inspected to ensure it is within specification, cleaned and re-bonded to a new sputtering target.

For more information on Backing Plates talk to Testbourne Ltd