It is difficult for a Cr—Si-based sintered body composed of chromium silicide (CrSi.sub.2) and silicon (Si) to have high strength.

Provided is a Cr—Si-based sintered body including Cr (chromium) and silicon (Si), in which the crystal structure attributed by X-ray diffraction is composed of chromium silicide (CrSi.sub.2) and silicon (Si), a CrSi.sub.2 phase is present at 60 wt % or more in a bulk, a density of the sintered body is 95% or more, and an average grain size of the CrSi.sub.2 phase is 60 μm or less.

Provided are a Mn—Zn—O sputtering target that can be used for DC sputtering and a production method therefor. The Mn—Zn—O sputtering target has a chemical composition containing Mn, Zn, O, and an element X (X is one or two elements selected from the group consisting of W and Mo). A surface to be sputtered of the target has an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of 1.5 μm or less or a maximum height Ry of 10 μm or less.

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.

Provided is a Mn—Nb—W—Cu—O-based sputtering target including, in the component composition, Mn, Nb, W, Cu, and O. The sputtering target has a relative density of at least 90%, and includes a crystal phase of MnNb.sub.2O.sub.3.67. Also provided is a production method for the sputtering target.

The present invention provides a gallium nitride sintered body and a gallium nitride molded article which have high density and low oxygen content without using a special apparatus. According to the first embodiment, a gallium nitride sintered body, which is characterized by having density of 2.5 g/cm.sup.3 to less than 5.0 g/cm.sup.3 and an intensity ratio of the gallium oxide peak of the (002) plane to the gallium nitride peak of the (002) plane of less than 3%, which is determined by X-ray diffraction analysis, can be obtained. According to the second embodiment, a metal gallium-impregnated gallium nitride molded article, which is characterized by comprising a gallium nitride phase and a metal gallium phase that exist as separate phases and having a molar ratio, Ga/(Ga+N), of 55% to 80%, can be obtained.

A thin film of metal oxide includes zinc (Zn); tin (Sn); silicon (Si); and oxygen (O). In terms of oxide, based on 100 mol % of total of oxides of the thin film, SnO.sub.2 is greater than 15 mol % but less than or equal to 95 mol %.

Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.

Electrochromic devices and methods may employ the addition of a defect-mitigating insulating layer which prevents electronically conducting layers and/or electrochromically active layers from contacting layers of the opposite polarity and creating a short circuit in regions where defects form. In some embodiments, an encapsulating layer is provided to encapsulate particles and prevent them from ejecting from the device stack and risking a short circuit when subsequent layers are deposited. The insulating layer may have an electronic resistivity of between about 1 and 10.sup.8 Ohm-cm. In some embodiments, the insulating layer contains one or more of the following metal oxides: aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, silicon aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, tungsten oxide, nickel tungsten oxide, and oxidized indium tin oxide. Carbides, nitrides, oxynitrides, and oxycarbides may also be used.

A process for producing a W—Ni sputtering target includes providing the sputtering target with 45 to 75 wt % W and a remainder of Ni and common impurities. The sputtering target contains a Ni(W) phase, a W phase and no or less than 10% by area on average of intermetallic phases measured at a target material cross section.

A thin film is provided that primarily comprises titanium oxide and includes Ti, Ag and O. The thin film contains 29.6 at % or more and 34.0 at % or less of Ti, 0.003 at % or more and 7.4 at % or less of Ag, and oxygen as the remainder thereof and has a ratio of oxygen to metals, O/(2Ti+0.5Ag), of 0.97 or more. The thin film has a high refractive index and a low extinction coefficient. In addition, the thin film has superior transmittance, minimally deteriorates in reflectance, and is useful as an interference film or a protective film for an optical information recording medium. The film may also be applied to a glass substrate to provide a heat reflective film, an antireflective film, or an interference filter. A method of producing the thin film is also disclosed.