Inverted Magnetron Prototype for Cyclotron Solid Targets Manufacturing in the INTEFF TOTEM Project

INTEFF TOTEM is a Proof-of-Concept project in the framework of “Innovazione tecnologica dalla fisica fondamentale” (INTEFF) program promoted by INFN Technology Transfer Committee (CNTT). This project was funded by the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) started on February 2021 and concluded in August 2022. The overview of the project with all Work Package’s (WP) results is presented by Sara Cisternino in AR 2022 [1]. This work will report more details about the WPs 2, 4 and 5. The magnetron sputtering technique is being investigated in the last few years with growing interest as a verifiable solid target manufacturing technology. However, the possible loss of high-cost materials prevents access to work with isotopically enriched metals. To overcome the main magnetron sputtering drawback, an alternative configuration, inverted magnetron (IM), is proposed. The IM is a device that combines simple geometry with high performance as a sputtering source. IM has a cylindrical shape and may also be called a hollow cathode. Different cylindrical IM configurations have been commercialized, indeed, the idea of such configuration is not new and has been studied for decades. However, it was for the first time proposed for the solid targets manufacturing. As a result, the IM prototype was tested with the Cu and Zn cathode, to perform both, metallic and reactive sputtering depositions. ZnO deposition was chosen since it can be a starting material for the interesting theranostic 67Cu radionuclide. Two natZnO (20-30 µm) onto Nb substrate were manufactured to perform the final irradiation tests (WP6), which is described in the report [1].