A sintered electroconductive oxide having a perovskite oxide type crystal structure represented by a compositional formula: M1.sub.aM2.sub.bMn.sub.cAl.sub.dCr.sub.eO.sub.f wherein M1 represents at least one element selected from group 3 elements; and M2 represents at least one element selected from among Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba, wherein element M1 predominantly includes at least one element selected from Nd, Pr and Sm, and a, b, c, d, e and f satisfy the following relationships: 0.6005≦a<1.000, 0<b≦0.400, 0≦c<0.150, 0.400≦d<0.950, 0.050<e≦0.600, 0.50<e/(c+e)≦1.00, and 2.80≦f≦3.30. Also disclosed is a thermistor element including a thermistor portion which is formed of the sintered electroconductive oxide as well as a temperature sensor employing the thermistor element.

A ceramic composite material and a method for producing same. The ceramic composite material has a ceramic matrix comprising zirconium oxide and at least one secondary phase dispersed therein. The matrix is composed of zirconium oxide as at least 51 vol.-% of composite material, and the secondary phase is in a proportion of 1 to 49 vol.-% of composite material, wherein 90 to 99% of the zirconium oxide is present in the tetragonal phase based on the total zirconium oxide portion. The tetragonal phase of the zirconium oxide is stabilized by at least one member selected from the group consisting of chemical stabilization and mechanical stabilization. The ceramic composite is damage-tolerant.

A ceramic electronic component includes a multilayer chip including a multilayer structure, which includes ceramic dielectric layers and internal electrode layers that are alternately stacked, and cover layers respectively disposed on top and bottom faces of the multilayer structure in a first direction in which the dielectric layers and the internal electrode layers are alternately stacked, wherein each of the cover layers includes a relatively high porous section and a first relatively less porous section having a pore ratio less than a pore ratio of the relatively high porous section, the relatively high porous section laterally spreading and spanning an entire length of the cover layer in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the pore ratio of the relatively high porous section being 1% or greater, the first relatively less porous section being interposed between the relatively high porous section and the multilayer structure.

A method for producing a multilayer ceramic capacitor that includes preparing a dielectric ceramic material by mixing a perovskite compound, a Re compound, a Mn compound, a Mg compound, and a Si compound. The perovskite compound contains Ba and Ti and has 1.2×10.sup.15 or more and 4.5×10.sup.15 or less Ba vacancies per gram. Re in the Re compound is at least one element selected from Y, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, and Yb. Green sheets containing the dielectric ceramic material are then formed. Inner electrode patterns are then formed on some of the green sheets. An unsintered capacitor body is then formed by stacking the green sheets, some of which have the inner electrode patterns formed thereon. Sintering of the unsintered capacitor body is then conducted.

The object of the present invention is to provide the dielectric ceramic composition having good characteristics even under the high electric field intensity, and particularly good IR characteristic and the high temperature accelerated lifetime. The dielectric ceramic composition according to the present invention comprises a main component comprising a perovskite type compound shown by a compositional formula (Ba.sub.1-x-ySr.sub.xCa.sub.y).sub.m(Ti.sub.1-zZr.sub.z)O.sub.3 (note that, said “m”, “x”, “y” and “z” all show a mol ratio, and each satisfies 0.94≦m≦1.1, 0≦x≦0.2, 0≦y≦0.2, 0.06≦z<0.2), a first sub component comprising oxides of a rare earth element R (note that, R is any one selected from the group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu), a second sub component comprising oxides of Mg, a third sub component comprising oxides at least one element M selected from the group consisting of Mn, Cr, Co and Fe, a fourth sub component as a sintering agent, a ratio of the first sub component in terms of oxides (RO.sub.3/2) is 8 to 20 mol, a ratio of the second sub component in terms of oxides (MgO) is 3 to 15 mol, a ratio of the third sub component in terms of oxides (MO) is 0.6 to 2.0 mol, with respect to 100 mol of said main component; and when a content of the first sub component is R mol, a content of the second sub component is M mol, and a content of the third sub component is N mol with respect to 100 mol of said main component, then 1.0≦R(M+N)≦2.4 is satisfied.

A dielectric ceramic composition has good characteristics even under the high electric field intensity, and particularly good IR characteristic and the high temperature accelerated lifetime. The dielectric ceramic composition has a main component having a perovskite type compound shown by a compositional formula (Ba.sub.1-x-ySr.sub.xCa.sub.y).sub.m(Ti.sub.1-zZr.sub.z)O.sub.3, a first sub component having oxides of a rare earth element R, a second sub component as a sintering agent, wherein the dielectric particles has dielectric particles having high diffusion rate of the rare earth element, preferably of a complete solid solution particle, and when a concentration of Ti atom in the diffusion phase is 100 atom %, then an average concentration of the rare earth element R in the diffusion phase is 5 atom % or more, and an average concentration of Zr in the diffusion phase is 10 atom % or more.

A dielectric ceramic composition having good characteristic even under high electric field intensity, and particularly good IR characteristic and high temperature accelerated lifetime. The present invention is a dielectric ceramic composition comprising, a main component comprising a perovskite type compound shown by a compositional formula (Ba1-x-ySrxCay)m(Ti1-zZrz)O3, a first sub component comprising oxides of a rare earth element, a second sub component as a sintering agent, wherein said dielectric ceramic composition is a complete solid solution particle wherein the rare earth element is solid dissolved to entire dielectric particle, or a core-shell particle having high ratio of the diffusion phase, and comprises the dielectric particle having 5 to 20 atom % of the average concentration of the rare earth element in the diffusion phase, and having uniform concentration distribution of the rare earth element in the diffusion phase.

A method of forming a thermal barrier coating is disclosed. The method may include providing a solution containing strontium and niobium and applying the solution to a substrate via a chemical solution deposition process to form a first film layer on the substrate. The method may further include pyrolyzing the first film layer and annealing the first film in an air atmosphere to form a strontium niobate coating.

A dielectric film containing an alkaline earth metal oxide having a NaCl type crystal structure as a main component, wherein the dielectric film has a (111)-oriented columnar structure in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the dielectric film, and in a Cu—Kα X-ray diffraction chart of the dielectric film, a half width of the diffraction peak of (111) is in a range of from 0.3° to 2.0°.

A voltage-nonlinear resistor element 10 includes a voltage-nonlinear resistor (referred simply as “resistor”) 20 and a pair of electrodes 14 and 16 between which the resistor 20 is interposed. The resistor 20 has a multilayer structure including a first layer 21 composed primarily of zinc oxide, a second layer 22 composed primarily of zinc oxide, and a third layer 23 composed primarily of a metal oxide other than zinc oxide. The second layer 22 is adjacent to the first layer 21 and has a smaller thickness and a higher volume resistivity than the first layer 21. The third layer 23 is adjacent to the second layer 22.