Texture Evolution of High-purity Tantalum during 90°Clock Rolling

When fabricating high-purity tantalum targets for the sputtering procedure of integrated circuit manufacturing, a through-thickness texture gradient can form in the rolled tantalum (Ta) plate. This texture gradient hinders the target sputtering performance, reducing chip reliability. This study investigated the texture evolution during the 90°clock rolling through experimental and simulation methods. Balancing the plane strain deformation with the surface shear strain deformation during fabrication and limiting the total rolling reduction to no more than 85% can weaken the through-thickness texture gradient in the Ta plate. A crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) model was developed to simulate the 90°clock rolling procedure in the ABAQUS/Explicit software. The simulation and the experimental results are in agreement, with slight differences in texture type and intensity due to tantalum's complex slip behaviors.