My gold cathode is taking on a decidedly non-gold appearance and it won sputter any more. What is the reason for this?
This is not that uncommon of a question. The first rule of thumb is that if it does not look like gold, then it probably is not gold. There is one exception however, and that is when the sputtering process creates some kind of surface texture that leads to an optical effect, a non-gold looking gold color (more like gray). But that typically does not adversely effect the sputtering rate. The other cases then would be either a) contamination from external sources (e.g. finger prints) or b) build up of contaminants from the use of gold with insufficient purity. If (a), then that “problem” is solved by a good solvent washing and scrubbing with something like acetone. If (b), then it will not rub off with solvent and it would be something building up in the way of impurities from within the gold foil itself. If this is the reason for the apparent “failure” of a gold cathode, one should try polishing off that surface of impurity concentration on a standard metallographic polishing table. If
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