A sputtering target comprising a top coat including a composition of lithium cobalt oxide LiyCozOx. x is smaller than or equal to y+z, and the lithium cobalt oxide has an X-Ray diffraction pattern with a peak P2 at 44°±0.2° 2-theta. The X-Ray diffraction pattern is measured with an X-Ray diffractometer with CuKα1 radiation.

A solid electrolyte, in which a part of an element contained in a mobile ion-containing material is substituted, and an occupied impurity level that is occupied by electrons or an unoccupied impurity level that is not occupied by electrons is provided between a valence electron band and a conduction band of the mobile ion-containing material, and a smaller energy difference out of an energy difference between a highest level of energy in the occupied impurity level and an energy and a LUMO level difference between a lowest level of energy in the unoccupied impurity level and a HOMO level is greater than 0.3 eV.

A dielectric composition and a multilayer capacitor including the same are disclosed. The dielectric composition including: a BaTiO.sub.3-based main ingredient; a first auxiliary ingredient including rare earth elements; and a second auxiliary ingredient including at least one of Ba and Ca but essentially including Ba, wherein the rare earth elements include Tb and Dy, and the first auxiliary ingredient and the second auxiliary ingredient satisfy a molar content condition of 0.40<(Tb/T_RE)*(Ba+Ca)<0.93, where T_RE is a total molar content of the rare earth elements in the first auxiliary ingredient.

A selection method includes: obtaining or providing multilayer ceramic capacitors each having a multilayer structure in which each of a plurality of ceramic dielectric layers and each of a plurality of internal electrode layers are alternately stacked; measuring a ratio of (a current value at 10 V/μm when a direct voltage is applied to a plurality of ceramic dielectric layers at 125 degrees C.)/(a current value at 10 V/μm when a direct voltage is applied to the plurality of the ceramic dielectric layers at 85 degrees C.), with respect to each multilayer ceramic capacitor; determining whether the ratio is in a predetermined range; and selecting a multilayer ceramic capacitor or multilayer ceramic capacitors each having a ratio in the predetermined range as a desired multilayer ceramic capacitor.

An alumina-ceramic-based electrical insulator, to a method for producing the insulator, and to a vacuum tube includes the insulator. The electrical insulator is for insulating two electrodes of a vacuum tube through which a charged particle beam flows, the electrical insulator being formed of an alumina-based ceramic. The ceramic comprises a vitreous phase of between 2% and 8% by weight into which at least one metal oxide is diffused from a face of the electrical insulator.

A dielectric composition includes a main ingredient having a perovskite structure represented by ABO.sub.3, where A is at least one of Ba, Sr, and Ca and B is at least one of Ti, Zr, and Hf, and a first accessory ingredient. The first accessory ingredient comprises 0.1 mole or more of a rare earth element, 0.02 mole or more of Nb, and 0.25 mole or more and 0.9 mole or less of Mg, a sum of contents of the rare earth element and Nb is 1.5 mole or less.

A sintered body includes a solid solution containing cobalt and iron, with the balance being zirconia. The total content of cobalt in terms of CoO and iron in terms of Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 is more than 0.1 wt % and less than 3.0 wt %, and the proportion of cobalt regions larger than 5.5 μm.sup.2 in an elemental map obtained using an electron probe microanalyzer is 25% or less.

A method of producing a core-shell particle includes introducing a barium titanate-based base powder and an additive to a reactor, and exposing the barium titanate-based base powder and the additive to a thermal plasma torch to obtain core-shell particles including a core portion having barium titanate (BaTiO.sub.3) and a shell portion including the additive and formed on a surface of the core portion.

Provided is a dielectric ceramic composition including a first component and a second component, wherein the first component comprises an oxide of Ca of 0.00 mol % to 35.85 mol % an oxide of Sr of 0.00 mol % to 47.12 mol %, an oxide of Ba of 0.00 mol % to 51.22 mol %, an oxide of Ti of 0.00 mol % to 17.36 mol %, an oxide of Zr of 0.00 mol % to 17.36 mol %, an oxide of Sn of 0.00 mol % to 2.60 mol %, an oxide of Nb of 0.00 mol % to 35.32 mol %, an oxide of Ta of 0.00 mol % to 35.32 mol %, and an oxide of V of 0.00 mol % to 2.65 mol %, and the second component includes at least (a) an oxide of Mn of 0.005% by mass to 3.500% by mass and (b) an oxide of Cu and/or an oxide of Ru.

Provided is a ZrO.sub.2—CaO—C based refractory material which is capable of maintaining high adhesion resistance over a long period of time, while exhibiting significant slaking resistance, and suppressing self-fluxing, i.e., exhibiting corrosion-erosion resistance. The refractory material comprises a CaO—ZrO.sub.2 composition containing a CaO component in an amount of 40% by mass to 60% by mass, wherein a mass ratio of the CaO component to a ZrO.sub.2 component is 0.67 to 1.5, and wherein the CaO—ZrO.sub.2 composition includes a eutectic microstructure of CaO crystals and CaZrO.sub.3 crystals, wherein a width of each of the CaO crystals observable in a cross-sectional microstructure is 50 μm or less.