Current Application Status and Development Direction of High-end Magnetron Sputtering Target in China

High-end magnetron sputtering targets serve as the core foundational materials for fabricating critical functional films used in integrated circuits and flat panel displays. China currently faces a high external dependency in this field, along with persistent structural challenges such as weak fundamental research, lagging high-purity material preparation technologies, and reliance on imported core equipment. This study reviews the application status of high-end magnetron sputtering targets in two major fields—semiconductor chips and flat panel displays, and identifies common issues including micro-composition and structural homogeneity of raw materials and targets, preparation and testing equipment for sputtering targets, and the transition to smart manufacturing. It proposes key development directions for the sputtering target industry, such as research on micro-homogenization of composition and structure of ultra-high purity targets, collaborative efforts across the industrial chain to tackle key equipment for target processing and testing, driving research paradigm transformation through digital‒intelligent integration, and focusing on forward-looking layouts of critical fields. Practical actions can be taken in areas including developing high-purity material purification and processing technologies, deepening industry‒university‒research‒application collaborative innovation mechanisms, improving the industrial chain and standards systems, balancing independent talent cultivation with targeted recruitment, and reshaping the innovation ecosystem of the sputtering target industry. These measures will help transition China's sputtering target industry from a follower model featuring "equipment introduction‒process imitation" to an innovative "data-driven‒standard-led" paradigm, thereby supporting the development needs of strategic emerging industries such as integrated circuits and flat panel displays.