An Introduction to Dysprosium Metal and Applications
Dysprosium is a little-known yet interesting rare earth metal with specialized properties and uses, especially as a dysprosium sputter target.
What is Dysprosium?
Dysprosium, symbol Dy, has atomic number 66. It was discovered in 1886 by French chemist Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Its name comes from Greek for “hard to get at,” reflecting the difficulty of isolating it. Dysprosium does not occur naturally but is present in minerals like xenotime and gadolinite. China, the United States, and India lead in producing it.
Dysprosium is a soft, shiny white metal with high melting point. It belongs to the lanthanides, sharing attributes of rare earths. Dysprosium has good thermal neutron absorption and retains magnetism well at high temperatures. This makes it useful in nuclear reactors and strong magnets.
One particular use is as a dysprosium sputter target. Sputtering is a process that deposits thin films by bombarding a target to eject its atoms onto a substrate. Dysprosium’s properties are suitable for certain advanced sputtering applications.
Dysprosium targets aid production of high-performance electronics, semiconductors, and optical devices. High purity targets provide superior films with precise electrical, magnetic, or optical characteristics needed.
Properties of Dysprosium
Dysprosium is a soft, shiny white metal belonging to the lanthanide rare earth elements. It has a high melting point and shares many typical properties of rare earth metals. Dysprosium's standout qualities include excellent thermal neutron absorption and retaining magnetism at high temperatures, making it uniquely suited for nuclear reactors and durable high-performance magnets.
Dysprosium Sputter Target
One key application of dysprosium is as a sputter target. Sputter deposition is a technique to deposit thin films by bombarding a target material with energetic ions. This ejects target atoms that then deposit onto the substrate as a thin film. Dysprosium is an ideal sputter target material for certain specialized processes requiring a target that can withstand high temperatures and ion bombardment.
During sputtering, the dysprosium target gets bombarded by accelerated gas ions, causing dysprosium atoms to dislodge and become deposited as a thin film on electronic, semiconductor, or optical components. Dysprosium’s properties allow exceptionally stable and efficient sputtering performance for precise film deposition. High purity dysprosium targets yield superior quality films with the exact electrical, magnetic, or optical characteristics demanded in these industries.
Dysprosium sputtering target
Another major use of dysprosium is in neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets. Dysprosium’s magnetism resistance at high operating temperatures makes it an excellent addition to NdFeB magnets. This allows the magnets to maintain high magnetic strength in compact volumes at elevated temperatures required in applications like electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, robotics, and computer hard disk drives.
Moreover, dysprosium finds use in nuclear reactors because it readily absorbs thermal neutrons while resisting radiation damage. Dysprosium’s high melting point also enables it to be used in cermet composites as control rods and other components subjected to extreme heat and radiation inside nuclear reactors.
Other Applications of Dysprosium
Aside from its role in sputtering, Dysprosium has a variety of other applications. Given its resistance to demagnetization at high temperatures, it's used in the production of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, which are the strongest permanent magnets available. These magnets are often used in electric vehicles, wind turbine generators, and hard disk drives.
Dysprosium is also used in nuclear reactors due to its ability to absorb neutrons. It is used as a cermet (a composite material composed of ceramic and metallic materials) for its resistance to radiation damage and high melting point.