Our material scientists and process engineers employ the right manufacturing technology to enhance your system performance.
The manufacturing of Williams’ Thin Film Products employs a wide range of options to meet the highest standards of the marketplace. Williams specializes in an array of base metals, vacuum cast and powder consolidated alloys, cermets and ceramics. Williams is the leading sputtering target manufacturer to fully embrace both vacuum casting and powder metallurgy technologies. Vacuum induction melting, inert gas hot pressing and hot isostatic pressing techniques are routinely hybridized to form unique processing solutions for the most challenging of composites and alloys. Advanced machining centers and in-house target bonding ensure that we have the capability to produce virtually all thin film materials required for PVD applications.
Vacuum Induction Melting
State-of-the-art casting techniques allow for an ever-expanding variety of magnetic/non-magnetic alloys and base metals to be produced. Materials are engineered for a fine grain structure and low gaseous content. Our PureCON™ grade of PVD materials offers a solution for magnetic data storage customers seeking to minimize volatile contaminates during deposition in a UHV environment. Process repeatability and magnetic alloy homogeneity is verified via Pass Through Flux (PTF) analysis.
Inert Gas Hot Pressing
Williams has built its reputation on being able to produce difficult and exotic hot pressed sputtering targets and evaporation material. Drawing on more than two decades of powder metallurgy experience, we offer a complete range of oxides, nitrides, silicides, carbides, borides, fluorides, sulfides, selenides, and tellurides. Our hot presses have the flexibility to produce targets from 1" diameter to 24" in diameter, and a limitless combination of squares and rectangles. All our materials are pressed to near-net shape requiring little or no additional machining, which could contaminate the starting powders.
CNC Machining
Computer controlled machining equipment enables Williams to handle production runs of complex metal targets and backing plates to exacting specifications.
High Purity Materials Preparation
Williams is adept at complex composite synthesis and alloy preparation for hot pressed ceramics and vacuum cast targets. Our labs employ a range of melting, crushing, screening, and blending techniques to formulate non-standard and one off R&D compounds. Complete material characterization is performed and provided on all thin film materials.
Custom Design Backing Plate Manufacturing
Our highly trained and certified machining staff produces both standard OEM sputter system backing plates and custom-designed units. Customers will receive new or refurbished cathodes with properly finished sealing surfaces and tight-toleranced dimensions.
Target Bonding
Utilizing a variety of sputtered and evaporated techniques, Williams offers target bonding to backing plates (copper or molybdenum) enabling them to withstand a broad range of operating temperatures and parameters. Through our global manufacturing reach we offer bonding services in Buffalo and Brewster NY, Santa Clara CA, Ireland, and Singapore. Williams specializes in innovative solder bonding of materials with highly dissimilar coefficients of thermal expansion. Our bonding engineers design processes to meet the requirements of all PVD equipment, including custom built systems.
