Aluminium (Al) is a light metal of the boron group and is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust. Due to its high affinity towards oxygen, it is rarely found in pure form, but as part of various mineral compounds. The main source for the production of pure aluminium is bauxite, which is the result of chemical weathering and leaching of sedimentary and igneous rocks in tropical climate. In the earth’s crust it is the most frequent metal with an abundance of 8.23 %.

Aluminium is a soft metal with good thermal and electrical conductivity. In combination with its high abundance, it is one of the most important conductor materials after copper. These properties make the use of aluminium sputter targets attractive for thin film deposition for fuel cells, semiconductors, displays and photovoltaic devices. Worth mentioning here is aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) as a cheaper alternative for indium-tin-oxide (ITO) in transparent conductive films. Above that, aluminium is part of the promising solid electrolyte material “lithium aluminium titanium phosphate” (LATP) which has a high potential for the use in solid-state-batteries.

Due to its light weight, aluminium is widely used in engine parts and aircraft assemblies.