Does it matter where you purchase your sputtering targets?

If consistency is important to you, it’s best to get your sputtering targets directly from the manufacturer. Let me share what happened to one of our customers so you understand why.

We received a phone call from someone who was getting frustrated. They were purchasing their targets from different companies, which resulted in inconsistent performance, plus they couldn’t control when the targets would be delivered. They didn’t realize at the time that their problems were the result of using different manufacturers.

We ran into some tricky issues while making these targets. The alloy we made for them, at first, was too brittle and you couldn’t machine it. The solution was not an easy one, and it didn’t happen overnight. There were a lot of iterations involved in achieving the customer’s desired effect. It also involved a leap-of-faith on both ends.  My customer had to trust that I could achieve what he wanted. It was a risk for me too.  If I didn’t succeed I stood to lose a lot.  But having spent time talking with my customer, we had established a relationship to the point where he trusted my experience.  Communication was key as well. We were in constant contact during the period of development.   In the end, their quality issues were solved, and now we are producing their sputtering targets. Today they are one of our best customers.

We proved ourselves by giving them a consistent product, which led to being asked if we could help them develop a new composition. This is how we have grown our business. Customers come to us with a problem to solve. Then, once that problem is solved, they are willing to take a chance on us  with other problems.

What’s the lesson learned? The only way you can control the quality of your end product is by dealing directly with the manufacturer of your sputtering targets.