A method for producing a battery includes depositing, via sputter deposition, a coating on at least a portion of a cup shaped first housing part of the battery. The coating includes aluminium, chromium, tin, and/or an alloy having two or more of the group consisting of aluminium, chromium, and tin. The method also includes establishing an electrical connection between a current conductor of the battery and the cup-shaped first housing part of the battery and assembling the cup-shaped first housing part of the battery and a second housing part of the battery to form a housing of the battery. The housing has an interior space that includes a composite body including a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and the current conductor. The cup-shaped first housing part has a circular or oval bottom and a ring-shaped side wall.

A sputtering target which is made of a magnesium oxide sintered body having a purity of not less than 99.99% or not less than 99.995% by mass %, a relative density of not less than 98%, and an average grain size of not more than 8 μm. The average grain size of the sputtering target is preferably not more than 5 μm, more preferably not more than 2 μm. A sputtered film having an excellent insulation resistance and an excellent homogeneity can be obtained by using the sputtering target.

A system is disclosed, including a processing chamber for a deposition process; a cathode within the chamber, configured to introduce a sputter gas and a reactive gas adjacent to a target; a substrate holder, disposed opposite the cathode within the processing chamber, configured to secure a substrate to receive a deposition from the target; and a control system configured to monitor a target voltage and to control a flow rate of the reactive gas to maintain the target voltage within a desired range during the deposition process. Methods and devices for deposition processes are also disclosed.

A system for semiconductor manufacturing that uses ultrasonic waves for estimating and monitoring a remaining service lifetime of a consumable element is provided. A consumable element comprises a front side arranged inside a process chamber and a back side, opposite the front side, arranged outside the process chamber. An ultrasonic transducer is arranged on the back side of the consumable element, and directed towards the front side of the consumable element. A monitoring unit is configured to estimate and monitor a remaining service lifetime of the consumable element using the ultrasonic transducer. A method for estimating and monitoring the remaining service lifetime of the consumable element using ultrasonic waves is also provided.

Methods of forming nanoceramic materials and components. The methods may include performing atomic layer deposition to form a plurality of nanoparticles, including forming a thin film coating over core particles, or sintering the nanoparticles in a mold. The nanoparticles can include a first material selected from a rare earth metal-containing oxide, a rare earth metal-containing fluoride, a rare earth metal-containing oxyfluoride or combinations thereof.

An apparatus for depositing a metal film on a surface of a three-dimensional object, includes a mounting drum rotatably disposed inside a chamber and having a circumferential surface onto which a plurality of three-dimensional objects is settled and mounted making each surface thereof to be subjected to deposition be exposed to an outside; and at least one source target depositing a metal film onto the surface of the three-dimensional object mounted to the mounting drum by sputtering.

An apparatus for depositing a metal film on a surface of a three-dimensional object, includes a mounting drum rotatably disposed inside a chamber and having a circumferential surface onto which a plurality of three-dimensional objects is settled and mounted making each surface thereof to be subjected to deposition be exposed to an outside; and at least one source target depositing a metal film onto the surface of the three-dimensional object mounted to the mounting drum by sputtering.

Provided is a zinc oxide-based sputtering target that enables production of a zinc oxide-based sputtered film having higher transparency and electrical conductivity. The zinc oxide-based sputtering target of the present invention is composed of a zinc oxide-based sintered body including zinc oxide crystal grains as a main phase and spinel phases as a dopant-containing grain boundary phase, and the zinc oxide-based sputtering target has a degree of (002) orientation of ZnO of 80% or greater at a sputtering surface, a density of the zinc oxide-based sintered body of 5.50 g/cm.sup.3 or greater, the number of the spinel phases per area of 20 counts/100 μm.sup.2 or greater, and a spinel phase distribution index of 0.40 or less.

To provide a crystalline oxide semiconductor film. By collision of ions with a target including a crystalline In—Ga—Zn oxide, a flat-plate-like In—Ga—Zn oxide is separated. In the flat-plate-like In—Ga—Zn oxide, a first layer including a gallium atom, a zinc atom, and an oxygen atom, a second layer including a zinc atom and an oxygen atom, a third layer including an indium atom and an oxygen atom, and a fourth layer including a gallium atom, a zinc atom, and an oxygen atom are stacked in this order. After the flat-plate-like In—Ga—Zn oxide is deposited over a substrate while maintaining the crystallinity, the second layer is gasified and exhausted.

An FePt-based sintered sputtering target containing C and/or BN, wherein an area ratio of AgCu alloy grains on a polished surface of a cross section that is perpendicular to a sputtered surface of the sputtering target is 0.5% or more and 15% or less. An object of this invention is to provide a sputtering target capable of reducing particles generation during sputtering and efficiently depositing a magnetic thin film of a magnetic recording medium.