Provided are a sintered material having high corrosion resistance, a method of manufacturing the sintered material, a member for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a method of manufacturing a member for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. The sintered material according to an embodiment includes 50 mass% or more of yttrium oxyfluoride, has a relative density of 97.0% or more, and has a Vickers hardness of 5.0 GPa or more. The method of manufacturing a sintered material according to an embodiment includes forming a molded body including yttrium oxyfluoride powder having a particle size of 0.3 .Math.m or less, and sintering the molded body under an atmospheric pressure at a temperature of 800° C. or less.

Shaped porous carbon products and processes for preparing these products are provided. The shaped porous carbon products can be used, for example, as catalyst supports and adsorbents. Catalyst compositions including these shaped porous carbon products, processes of preparing the catalyst compositions, and various processes of using the shaped porous carbon products and catalyst compositions are also provided.

The invention provides a shuttle kiln that can fire ceramic porous bodies containing organic binders in a shorter period of time than in conventional methods without occurring breaks due to a temperature difference between the inside and the outside. The shuttle kiln of the invention is suited for firing of ceramic porous bodies containing organic binders. It includes a gas suction path 4 that suctions in-furnace gas and discharges it via an afterburner 5 and a circulation path 7 that suctions the in-furnace gas to the furnace outside to burn organic binder gas and then returns it into the furnace.

A mullite sintered body according to the present invention has an impurity element content of 1% by mass or less and contains sintered mullite grains having an average grain size of 8 μm or less. When a surface of the mullite sintered body is finished by polishing, pores in the surface have an average largest pore length of 0.4 μm or less. The surface preferably has a center line average surface roughness (Ra) of 3 nm or less. The surface preferably has a maximum peak height (Rp) of 30 nm or less. The number of pores in the surface is preferably 10 or less per unit area of 4 μm×4 μm.

An NTC component comprising a first electrode (1) and a second electrode (2) is specified. The NTC component further comprises an NTC element (3) disposed between the first electrode (1) and the second electrode (2), wherein the NTC element (3) comprises a ceramic having the general composition AB.sub.2O.sub.4, and where A and B each comprise one or more of the materials Mn, Ni, Co and Cu, and B additionally comprises one or more of the materials Fe, Y, Pr, Al, In, Ga and Sb.

A ceramic structure 10 includes a heater electrode 14 within a disk-shaped AlN ceramic substrate 12. The heater electrode 14 contains a metal filler in the main component WC. The metal filler (such as Ru or RuAl) has a lower resistivity and a higher thermal expansion coefficient than AlN. An absolute value of a difference |ΔCTE| between a thermal expansion coefficient of the AlN ceramic substrate 12 and a thermal expansion coefficient of the heater electrode 14 at a temperature in the range of 40° C. to 1000° C. is 0.35 ppm/° C. or less.

There are provided a cubic boron nitride sintered body having a surface also excellent in adhesiveness to a ceramic coating film, while having excellent wear resistance and defect resistance, and a manufacturing method thereof, and a tool. The cubic boron nitride sintered body of the present invention includes 60.0 to 90.0% by volume of cubic boron nitride, the remainder being a binder phase, wherein the binder phase contains: at least any of a nitride, a boride, and an oxide of Al; at least any of a carbide, a nitride, a carbonitride, and a boride of Ti; and a compound represented by the following formula (1):
W.sub.2Ni.sub.xCo.sub.(1-x)B.sub.2(0.40≤x<1)  (1).

An ink of the formula: 60-80% by weight BaTiO.sub.3 particles coated with SiO.sub.2; 5-50% by weight high dielectric constant glass; 0.1-5% by weight surfactant; 5-25% by weight solvent; and 5-25% weight organic vehicle. Also a method of manufacturing a capacitor comprising the steps of: heating particles of BaTiO.sub.3 for a special heating cycle, under a mixture of 70-96% by volume N.sub.2 and 4-30% by volume H.sub.2 gas; depositing a film of SiO.sub.2 over the particles; mechanically separating the particles; incorporating them into the above described ink formulation; depositing the ink on a substrate; and heating at 850-900° C. for less than 5 minutes and allowing the ink and substrate to cool to ambient in N.sub.2 atmosphere. Also a dielectric made by: heating particles of BaTiO.sub.3 for a special heating cycle, under a mixture of 70-96% by volume N.sub.2 and 4-30% by volume H.sub.2 gas; depositing a film of SiO.sub.2 over the particles; mechanically separating the particles; forming them into a layer; and heating at 850-900° C. for less than 5 minutes and allowing the layer to cool to ambient in N.sub.2 atmosphere.

Provided are an oxide semiconductor excellent in transparency, mobility, and weatherability, etc., and a semiconductor device having the oxide semiconductor, a p-type semiconductor being realizable in the oxide semiconductor. The oxide semiconductor consists of a composite oxide, which has a crystal structure including a pyrochlore structure, containing at least one or more kinds of elements selected from Nb and Ta, and containing Sn element, and its holes become charge carriers by the condition that Sn.sup.4+/(Sn.sup.2++Sn.sup.4+) which is a ratio of Sn.sup.4+ to a total amount of Sn in the composite oxide is 0.124≤Sn.sup.4+/(Sn.sup.2++Sn.sup.4+)≤0.148.

A target for sputtering which enables to attain high rate film-formation of a transparent conductive film suitable for a blue LED or a solar cell. A oxide sintered body includes an indium oxide and a cerium oxide, and one or more oxide of titanium, zirconium, hafnium, molybdenum and tungsten. The cerium content is 0.3 to 9% by atom, as an atomicity ratio of Ce/(In+Ce), and the content of cerium is equal to or lower than 9% by atom, as an atomicity ratio of Ce/(In+Ce). The oxide sintered body has an In.sub.2O.sub.3 phase of a bixbyite structure has a CeO.sub.2 phase of a fluorite-type structure finely dispersed as crystal grains having an average particle diameter of equal to or smaller than 3 μm.