Advanced ceramics emerged during the twentieth century but is soaring with the help of modern science and technology. New species comes into being explosively in recent two to three decades. Oxide ceramic sputtering targets are the most common ones among advanced ceramic sputtering targets. Oxide ceramics can be made by sintering at high temperature with one or more oxides being the main principal components and other minor oxides being the additives. They are divided into simple oxide ceramics and complex oxide ceramics. Common sputtering targets of this type involve aluminum oxide (Al2O3), magnesium oxide (MgO), beryllium oxide (BeO), zirconium oxide (ZrO2) and so on. Most oxide ceramics bear a high melting point, excellent insulation, heat strength, resistance to oxidants and corrosion. Therefore, they can be exposed to hyperthermal and oxidative environment for a long time and deserve their wide application in the engineering field. One imperfection to overcome is their susceptibility to plastic deformation at high temperature, making themselves unsuitable for using as high-temperature structural materials.
