Precious-Metal Sputtering Targets
Weigh it. A 2 in × 1/8 in disc reading 124 g is gold and 138 g is platinum; the same disc in brass reads 33 g and titanium 29 g — no gold-coloured impostor comes within a factor of three of gold's density.
How to spot it
A flat disc, rectangle or annulus 25–300 mm across and 0.1–12 mm thick, one face mirror-bright, the other machined flat or bonded to a copper or molybdenum backing plate. The diagnostic feature is the racetrack: a doughnut or oval erosion groove worn into the sputtering face. Marked with purity (99.99%, 4N, 5N), lot numbers and vendor labels — Kurt J. Lesker, ACI Alloys, Materion, Ted Pella, Cressington, Angstrom. Found in semiconductor and MEMS fabs, optical coating shops, SEM prep coaters and PVD lines.
Metal content
| Metal | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | ~454 g/lb — the target is solid metal | A 2 in × 0.125 in Au disc is 124 g; a 4 in × 0.25 in is 994 g. Spent targets retain 60–80% of virgin mass |
| Platinum | 138 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc | SEM coater targets are 4.9 g of Au or Pt |
| Palladium | 77 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc | Ag 3 in × 0.25 in = 304 g |
At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $59,261 per pound of contained metal — Gold 454 g = $59,261. A refiner paying $56900 returns about 96% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.
Safe removal
Working temperature: Indium debond 160–200 °C
Precious targets need no processing — ship as-is, they are already 99.99%. Do not clean, polish, sandblast or acid-dip them; you remove payable metal and add contamination. For indium-bonded targets, heat to ~160–200 °C to remelt the bond (In melts at 156.6 °C) and slide the target off with a wooden wedge, recovering the indium too. Strip chamber shields chemically or electrolytically, never by bead-blasting.
Hazards
NEVER grind, burn, torch or braze cadmium-plated or AgCdO material, and don't inhale the black contact dust.
NEVER grind, sand, saw or incinerate anything that might contain thorium or radium. Sealed sources stay sealed.
NEVER dry-cut boards indoors without extraction.
The practical answer for nearly everyone: sort, concentrate, and sell to a licensed refiner. A good refiner recovers 85–98%, assays rather than guesses, pays on the assay, and takes the waste liability. Your edge as a scrapper is identification and sorting — not chemistry.
NEVER grind, sand, file, saw, drill, abrasive-cut, sandblast, hammer, crush, shred, torch, melt or incinerate anything that might contain BeO. Sell or dispose of suspect parts intact. Broken beryllium parts are worth nothing; your lungs are worth everything.
Before you scrap it
The common trap
Questions
How much gold is in precious-metal sputtering targets?
Gold: ~454 g/lb — the target is solid metal. Platinum: 138 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc. Palladium: 77 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc. At current spot that is about $59,261 of contained metal per pound.
How do you identify precious-metal sputtering targets?
Weigh it. A 2 in × 1/8 in disc reading 124 g is gold and 138 g is platinum; the same disc in brass reads 33 g and titanium 29 g — no gold-coloured impostor comes within a factor of three of gold's density.
How do you remove precious-metal sputtering targets safely?
Precious targets need no processing — ship as-is, they are already 99.99%. Do not clean, polish, sandblast or acid-dip them; you remove payable metal and add contamination. For indium-bonded targets, heat to ~160–200 °C to remelt the bond (In melts at 156.6 °C) and slide the target off with a wooden wedge, recovering the indium too. Strip chamber shields chemically or electrolytically, never by bead-blasting.
Is precious-metal sputtering targets worth more working than as scrap?
Modest and situational. A virgin unopened precious target sells at 105–130% of metal to research labs; a spent one is worth its metal, full stop — refine it. The exception is non-precious targets (Ti, Ta, W, Nb, Ru, exotic alloys) worth 5–50× scrap sold intact, because a new 3 in Ta or Ru target is $600–4,000.
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