Abstract: Employed is an information acquisition apparatus which acquires characteristic information about an object using a reception signal of acoustic waves generated by the object that is irradiated with light, the apparatus having: region acquisition unit for acquiring information indicating a plurality of regions of mutually different characteristics, in the object; sound velocity determination unit for determining sound velocity in the plurality of regions, using the information indicating the plurality of regions; and characteristic information acquisition unit for acquiring the characteristic information about the object, using the sound velocity and the reception signal.

Abstract: A sputtering target formed of a refractory metallic silicide having a composition MSi.sub.x including a mixture composition of an MSi.sub.2 phase in the form of particles (M: at least one refractory metal selected from a group consisting of W, Mo, Ti, Zr, Hf, Ni and Ta), and an Si phase provided as a matrix phase. Interface layers having a predetermined thickness are formed at the interfaces between the MSi.sub.2 phase and the Si phase. The value X in the composition formula MSi.sub.x is set to a range of 2.0 to 4.0, and the thickness of the interface layers formed between the MSi.sub.2 phase and the Si phase, the dispersion of the composition, the density ratio of the target, the electrical resistivity of the Si phase and the surface roughness are set to predetermined values. An uniform high-quality thin film in which a composition distribution is uniform can be manufactured stably by using this target.

Abstract: A sputtering target formed of a refractory metallic silicide having a composition MSi.sub.x including a mixture composition of an MSi.sub.2 phase in the form of particles (M: at least one refractory metal selected from a group consisting of W, Mo, Ti, Zr, Hf, Ni and Ta), and an Si phase provided as a matrix phase. Interface layers having a predetermined thickness are formed at the interfaces between the MSi.sub.2 phase and the Si phase. The value X in the composition formula MSi.sub.x is set to a range of 2.0 to 4.0, and the thickness of the interface layers formed between the MSi.sub.2 phase and the Si phase, the dispersion of the composition, the density ratio of the target, the electrical resistivity of the Si phase and the surface roughness are set to predetermined values. An uniform high-quality thin film in which a composition distribution is uniform can be manufactured stably by using this target.

Abstract: A sputtering target formed of a refractory metallic silicide having a composition MSi.sub.x including a mixture composition of an MSi.sub.2 phase in the form of particles (M: at least one refractory metal selected from a group consisting of W, Mo, Ti, Zr, Hf, Ni and Ta), and an Si phase provided as a matrix phase. Interface layers having a predetermined thickness are formed at the interfaces between the MSi.sub.2 phase and the Si phase. The value X in the composition formula MSi.sub.x is set to a range of 2.0 to 4.0, and the thickness of the interface layers formed between the MSi.sub.2 phase and the Si phase, the dispersion of the composition, the density ratio of the target, the electrical resistivity of the Si phase and the surface roughness are set to predetermined values. An uniform high-quality thin film in which a composition distribution is uniform can be manufactured stably by using this target.