A refractory object may include a zircon body that may include at least about 0.1 wt. % and not greater than about 5.5 wt. % of an Al.sub.2O.sub.3 containing component for a total weight of the zircon body. The zircon body may further include at least about 25 wt. % and not greater than about 35 wt. % of a SiO.sub.2 component for a total weight of the zircon body.

Highly dense lithium based ceramics can be prepared by a low temperature process including combining a lithium based ceramic with a polar solvent having a lithium based salt dissolved therein and applying pressure and heat to the combination to form a salt-ceramic composite. Advantageously, the lithium salt is one that dissolves in the polar solvent and the heat applied to the combination is no greater than about 250° C. Such composites can also have high ionic conductivity.

An all solid battery includes: a solid electrolyte layer including phosphoric acid salt-based solid electrolyte; a first electrode that is formed on a first main face of the solid electrolyte layer; and a second electrode that is formed on a second main face of the solid electrolyte layer, wherein a D50% grain diameter of crystal grains of the phosphoric acid salt-based solid electrolyte is 0.5 μm or less, wherein a D90% grain diameter of the crystal grains is 3 μm or less.

An oriented apatite-type oxide ion conductor includes a composite oxide expressed as A.sub.9.33+x[T.sub.6.00−yM.sub.y]O.sub.26.0+z, where A represents one or two or more elements selected from the group consisting of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba, T represents an element including Si or Ge or both, and M represents one or two or more elements selected from the group consisting of B, Ge, Zn, Sn, W, and Mo, and where x is from −1.00 to 1.00, y is from 0.40 to less than 1.00, and z is from −3.00 to 2.00.

A ceramic electronic component includes: a body including dielectric layers and internal electrodes; and external electrodes disposed on the body and connected to the internal electrodes, wherein the dielectric layer includes a plurality of dielectric crystal grains, and at least one of the plurality of dielectric crystal grains has a core-double shell structure, the double shell includes a first shell surrounding at least a portion of the core and a second shell surrounding at least a portion of the first shell, the first shell includes a first element, one or more of Sn, Sb, Ge, Si, Ga, In, or Zr, and the second shell includes a second element, one or more of Ca or Sr.

Provided is a fluorite-based material thin film including an orthorhombic crystal structure having a symmetric segment and a non-symmetric segment; and at least two domains having different polarization directions. At least one of, the symmetric segment is not present at a wall between the domains, or at least two symmetric segments are consecutive. Also provided is a semiconductor device including the fluorite-based material thin film having an orthorhombic crystal structure. A polarization direction of the fluorite-based material thin film is configured to be changed by a structural transition between the symmetric segment and the non-symmetric segment.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of an enhanced resonant frequency hexagonal ferrite material, such as Y-phase hexagonal ferrite material, and methods of manufacturing. In some embodiments, sodium or potassium can be added into the crystal structure of the hexagonal ferrite material in order to achieve improved resonant frequencies in the range of 500 MHz to 1 GHz useful for radiofrequency applications.

A piezoelectric ceramic composition is represented by a composition formula A.sub.xBO.sub.3 and includes potassium sodium niobate containing K and Na that account for 80% or more of an amount of A-site elements and containing Nb that accounts for 70% or more of an amount of B-site elements. The piezoelectric ceramic composition contains Ta and Fe at a B-site.

A novel metal oxide or a novel sputtering target is provided. A sputtering target includes a conductive material and an insulating material. The insulating material includes an oxide, a nitride, or an oxynitride including an element M1. The element M1 is one or more kinds of elements selected from Al, Ga, Si, Mg, Zr, Be, and B. The conductive material includes an oxide, a nitride, or an oxynitride including indium and zinc. A metal oxide film is deposited using the sputtering target in which the conductive material and the insulating material are separated from each other.

In a piezoelectric ceramic composition including potassium sodium niobate, a transition temperature at which a phase transition between an orthorhombic crystal structure and a tetragonal crystal structure occurs lies in a temperature range of −20° C. or higher and 60° C. or lower. In the piezoelectric ceramic composition, αt/αO is 0.72 or more, where αO represents a coefficient of linear expansion determined when a crystal structure is orthorhombic in the temperature range, and αt represents a coefficient of linear expansion determined when a crystal structure is tetragonal in the temperature range.