A method that enables fabrication of a machinable zirconia composite sintered body that is machinable in a sintered state while maintaining properties suited for dental use, in a shorter time than it is possible with conventional methods. A method for producing a machinable zirconia composite sintered body by fabricating a molded body with a raw material composition that includes 78 to 95 mol % of ZrO.sub.2 and 2.5 to 10 mol % of Y.sub.2O.sub.3, and also includes 2 to 8 mol % of Nb.sub.2O.sub.5 and/or 3 to 10 mol % of Ta.sub.2O.sub.5, and in which ZrO.sub.2 predominantly includes a monoclinic crystal system and sintering the molded body.

A dielectric composition that contains a first complex oxide represented by (Bi.sub.xNa.sub.1−x)TiO.sub.3—CaTiO.sub.3 and having a perovskite structure as a main component; and at least one second complex oxide having a perovskite structure selected from the group consisting of BaZrO.sub.3, SrZrO.sub.3, CaZrO.sub.3, NaNbO.sub.3, and NaTaO.sub.3 as an auxiliary component. A tolerance factor t when the at least one second complex oxide is BaZrO.sub.3, NaNbO.sub.3, or NaTaO.sub.3 is 0.9016≤t≤0.9035, a tolerance factor t when the at least one second complex oxide is SrZrO.sub.3 is 0.9005≤t≤0.9025, and a tolerance factor t when the at least one second complex oxide is CaZrO.sub.3 is 0.9000 t<0.9020.

A method of producing a dielectric material by preparing a slurry by mixing a dielectric powder, water, one of an organic-acid metal salt and an inorganic metal salt, and an organic silicon compound, causing the slurry to come into contact with an anion exchange resin to remove an anion derived from the one of the organic-acid metal salt and the inorganic metal salt from the slurry, and drying the slurry to obtain the dielectric material.

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.

The present invention aims to provide a lithium ion-conducting oxide capable of providing a solid electrolyte with an excellent ion conductivity, and a solid electrolyte, a sintered body, an electrode material or an electrode and an all-solid-state battery using the same. The lithium ion-conducting oxide of the present invention includes at least lithium, tantalum, phosphorus, silicon, and oxygen as constituent elements, has a peak in a region of −20.0 ppm to 0.0 ppm on the solid-state .sup.31P-NMR spectrum, and has a peak in a range of −80.0 ppm to −100.0 ppm on the solid-state .sup.29Si-NMR spectrum.

A dielectric ceramic composition including a first component and a second component. 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 %. The second component includes (by mass) at least (a) an oxide of Mn of 0.005% to 3.500% and (b) one or both of an oxide of Cu of 0.080% to 20.000% and an oxide of Ru of 0.300% to 45.000%.

The present invention aims to provide a lithium-ion-conducting oxide sintered body capable of providing a solid electrolyte with an excellent ion conductivity, and a solid electrolyte, an electrode and an all-solid-state battery using the same. The lithium-ion-conducting oxide sintered body including at least lithium, tantalum, phosphorus, silicon, and oxygen as constituent elements, and having a polycrystalline structure consisting of crystal grains and grain interfaces formed between the crystal grains.

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 refractory object may include a zircon body that is intentionally doped with a dopant including an alkaline earth element and aluminum. The refractory object can have an improved creep deformation rate. In an embodiment, the refractory object can have a creep deformation rate of not greater than about 1.8 E-5 h.sup.−1 at a temperature of 1350° C. and a stress of 2 MPa. In another embodiment, the zircon body may include an amorphous phase including an alkaline earth metal element.

A piezoelectric material composition, a method of manufacturing the same, a piezoelectric device, and apparatus including the piezoelectric device. The piezoelectric device may include a piezoelectric device layer including a first material and a second material surrounded by the first material, a first electrode portion disposed at a first surface of the piezoelectric device layer, and a second electrode portion disposed at a second surface of the piezoelectric device layer opposite to the first surface, wherein the piezoelectric device layer comprises a piezoelectric material composition represented by Chemical Formula 1: 0.96(Na.sub.aK.sub.1-a)(Nb.sub.b(T.sub.1-b))O.sub.3-(0.04-x)MZrO.sub.3-x(Bi.sub.cAg.sub.1-c)ZrO.sub.3+d mol % NaNbO.sub.3, wherein T is Sb or Ta, M is Sr, Ba or Ca, a is 0.4≤a≤0.6, b is 0.90≤b≤0.98, c is 0.4≤c≤0.6, d is 0≤d≤5.0, and x is 0≤x≤0.04 and wherein T is Sb or Ta and M is Sr, Ba, or Ca.