Abstract: A positive electrode active material precursor for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, including a nickel composite hydroxide particle, is provided, wherein a cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle includes a void, a ratio of an area of the void to the cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle is less than or equal to 5.0%, a circular region having a radius of 1.78 ?m is set at a position where a ratio of an area of the void to the circular region is maximum, on the cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle, and the ratio of the area of the void to the circular region is less than or equal to 20%.

Abstract: A positive electrode active material precursor for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, including-nickel composite hydroxide particles, is provided, wherein a cross section of each nickel composite hydroxide particle includes voids, and an average value of a ratio of an area of the voids in an area of each of the plurality of regions partitioned by predetermined boundary lines, is greater than or equal to 0.5% and less than or equal to 5.0%, and a standard deviation of the ratio of the area of the voids in the area of each of the plurality of regions partitioned by the predetermined boundary lines, is less than or equal to 1.0.

Abstract: A positive electrode active material precursor for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, including a nickel composite hydroxide particle, is provided, wherein a cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle includes a void, and when the cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle is divided into a plurality of regions by boundary lines arranged in a grid such that each of the plurality of regions partitioned by the boundary lines has a size of 2 ?m square, an average value of a ratio of an area of the void in an area of each of the plurality of regions partitioned by the boundary lines, is greater than or equal to 0.5% and less than or equal to 5.0%, and a standard deviation of the ratio of the area of the void in the area of each of the plurality of regions partitioned by the boundary lines, is less than or equal to 1.0.

Abstract: A positive electrode active material precursor for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, including a nickel composite hydroxide particle, is provided, wherein a cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle includes a void, a ratio of an area of the void to the cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle is less than or equal to 5.0%, a circular region having a radius of 1.78 ?m is set at a position where a ratio of an area of the void to the circular region is maximum, on the cross section of the nickel composite hydroxide particle, and the ratio of the area of the void to the circular region is less than or equal to 20%.

Abstract: The present invention provides: an oxide sintered body having superior manufacturing stability, film stability, discharge stability, and mechanical strength; a process for manufacturing the same; and an oxide film obtained by using the oxide sintered body and having an intermediate refractive index. The oxide sintered body comprising In and Si, wherein a Si content is 0.65 to 1.75 in Si/In atomic ratio, a relative density is 90% or more, and a bending strength is 90 N/mm2 or more, is manufactured, and the oxide film with refractive index of 1.70 to 1.90 by a sputtering process using the oxide sintered body is manufactured.

Abstract: [Object] Provided are a Zn—Sn—O-based oxide sintered body which is used as a sputtering target or a tablet for vapor deposition and which is resistant to crack formation and the like during film formation, and a method for producing the same. [Solving means] The oxide sintered body is characterized in that tin is contained with an atomic ratio of Sn/(Zn+Sn) being 0.01 to 0.6, an average crystal particle diameter of the sintered body is 4.5 ?m or less, and a degree of orientation represented by I(222)/[I(222)+I(400)] is 0.52 or more, where I(222) and I(400) represent integrated intensities of the (222) plane and the (400) plane of a Zn2SnO4 phase measured by X-ray diffraction using the CuK? radiation.

Abstract: The present invention provides: an oxide sintered body having superior manufacturing stability, film stability, discharge stability, and mechanical strength; a process for manufacturing the same; and an oxide film obtained by using the oxide sintered body and having an intermediate refractive index. The oxide sintered body comprising In and Si, wherein a Si content is 0.65 to 1.75 in Si/In atomic ratio, a relative density is 90% or more, and a bending strength is 90 N/mm2 or more, is manufactured, and the oxide film with refractive index of 1.70 to 1.90 by a sputtering process using the oxide sintered body is manufactured.

Abstract: A multilayer transparent electroconductive film is obtained by stacking a transparent electroconductive film (II) on a transparent electroconductive film (I), and in this structure, the transparent electroconductive film (I) contains one or more added elements selected from aluminum and gallium, and the content of the added elements is in a range represented by ?2.18×[Al]+1.74?[Ga]??1.92×[Al]+6.10. The transparent electroconductive film (II) contains one or more added elements selected from aluminum and gallium, and the content of the added elements is in a range represented by ?[Al]+0.30?[Ga]??2.68×[Al]+1.74. In this case, [Al] is the aluminum content expressed as the atomic ratio (%) Al/(Zn+Al) and [Ga] is the gallium content expressed as the atomic ratio (%) Ga/(Zn+Ga).

Abstract: Provided is a zinc oxide sintered compact tablet enabling a transparent conductive film having no pinholes defects to be stably obtained during vacuum deposition film formation by suppressing the occurrence of the splashing phenomenon. A zinc oxide sintered compact tablet having hexagonal crystal structure, wherein when the integrated intensity of surface (103) and surface (110) found through X-ray diffraction analysis using CuK? radiation is taken to be I(103) and I(110) respectively, the orientation of the uniaxially pressed surface that is expressed by I(103)/(I(103)+I(110)) is 0.48 or more is obtained by performing pressurized formation of a granulated powder composed of a zinc oxide powder or a powder mixture of zinc oxide and an added element as a dopant and having a percentage of donut shaped secondary particles of 50% or more, sintering at normal pressure and a temperature of 800° C. to 1300° C.

Abstract: The present invention provides a transparent-conductive-film laminate and a manufacturing method therefor, and provides a thin-film solar cell using the transparent-conductive-film laminate and a manufacturing method for the thin-film solar cell. The transparent-conductive-film laminate has a structure, the structure including an indium-oxide-based transparent conductive film (I) with a surface roughness (Ra) of not more than 1.0 nm formed on a translucent substrate, and a zinc-oxide-based transparent conductive film (II) formed on the indium-oxide-based transparent conductive film (I); and has a surface roughness (Ra) of not less than 30 nm as a laminate, a haze ratio of not less than 8%, a resistance value of not more than 30 ?/sq., and an average absorptivity with respect to light in a wavelength range of 400 nm to 1200 nm of not more than 15%.

Abstract: The present invention provides a transparent conductive glass substrate with a surface electrode having a low reflectivity, a low absorption, and a high transmittance, and provides a thin film solar cell including the surface electrode and having a higher photoelectric conversion efficiency than that of the prior arts. The transparent conductive glass substrate with the surface electrode is obtained in such a way that, on a translucent glass substrate, a low-refractive-index transparent thin film having a refractive index of 1.6 to 1.8 at a wavelength of 550 nm and a film thickness of 50 nm to 150 nm is formed as a first layer, and, on the low-refractive-index transparent thin film, an amorphous indium-oxide-based transparent conductive film as a second layer and a rough film made of a crystalline zinc-oxide-based transparent conductive film as a third layer are formed in that order.

Abstract: The invention provides a transparent-conductive-film laminate and manufacturing method therefor, transparent-conductive-film laminate being useful as a surface electrode in manufacture of a high-efficiency silicon-based thin-film solar cell, having a roughness structure excellent in light scattering, and having an excellent effect of optical confinement, and provides a thin-film solar cell using transparent-conductive-film laminate and a manufacturing method for the thin-film solar cell. Transparent-conductive-film laminate has a structure including: an indium-oxide-based transparent conductive film (I) having a film thickness of not less than 10 nm and not more than 300 nm; and a zinc-oxide-based transparent conductive film (II) having a film thickness of not less than 200 nm, and has a surface having a crystalline structure with projections and depressions mixed therein, a surface roughness (Ra) of not less than 30 nm, a haze ratio of not less than 8%, and a resistance value of not more than 30 ?/sq.

Abstract: An oxide evaporation material according to the present invention includes a sintered body containing indium oxide as a main component thereof and cerium with a Ce/In atomic ratio of 0.001 to 0.110. The L* value in the CIE 1976 color space is 62 to 95. The oxide evaporation material with the L* value of 62 to 95 has an optimal oxygen amount. Accordingly, even when a small amount of an oxygen gas is introduced into a film-formation vacuum chamber, a transparent conducting film having a low resistance and a high transmittance in the visible to near-infrared region is formed by vacuum deposition methods. Since the amount of the oxygen gas introduced is small, the difference in composition between the film and the evaporation material is made small. This reduces the variations in composition and characteristics among films formed in large quantities.

Abstract: Provided are an oxide tablet for vapor deposition (oxide evaporation material), and a vapor-deposited thin film and a solar cell formed using the same. The tablet comprises a sintered body which contains indium oxide as a main component and cerium and which is subjected to no surface grinding after sintering, in which CompS/CompA=0.9 to 1.1, where the content of cerium in a surface layer to a depth of 5 ?m from a surface of the sintered body is represented by a Ce/In atomic ratio (CompS), and an average value of the content of cerium in the entire sintered body is represented by a Ce/In atomic ratio (CompA).

Abstract: [Object] Provided are: a Zn—Si—O-based oxide sintered body, which suppresses abnormal discharge and so forth when used as a sputtering target, or suppresses a splash phenomenon when used as a tablet for vapor deposition; a method for producing the Zn—Si—O-based oxide sintered body; and the like. [Solution] The Zn—Si—O-based oxide sintered body contains zinc oxide as a main component and Si, and is characterized in that a Si content is 0.1 to 10 atomic % with an atomic ratio of Si/(Zn+Si), the Si element is contained in a wurtzite-type zinc oxide phase to form a solid solution, and the oxide sintered body does not contain a SiO2 phase and zinc silicate (Zn2SiO4) as a spinel-type composite oxide phase.

Abstract: [Object] Provided are a Zn—Sn—O-based oxide sintered body which is used as a sputtering target or a tablet for vapor deposition and which is resistant to crack formation and the like during film formation, and a method for producing the same. [Solving means] The oxide sintered body is characterized in that tin is contained with an atomic ratio of Sn/(Zn+Sn) being 0.01 to 0.6, an average crystal particle diameter of the sintered body is 4.5 ?m or less, and a degree of orientation represented by I(222)/[I(222)+I(400)] is 0.52 or more, where I(222) and I(400) represent integrated intensities of the (222) plane and the (400) plane of a Zn2SnO4 phase measured by X-ray diffraction using the CuK? radiation.

Abstract: An oxide evaporation material according to the present invention includes a sintered body containing indium oxide as a main component thereof and cerium with a Ce/In atomic ratio of 0.001 to 0.110. The L* value in the CIE 1976 color space is 62 to 95. The oxide evaporation material with the L* value of 62 to 95 has an optimal oxygen amount. Accordingly, even when a small amount of an oxygen gas is introduced into a film-formation vacuum chamber, a transparent conducting film having a low resistance and a high transmittance in the visible to near-infrared region is formed by vacuum deposition methods. Since the amount of the oxygen gas introduced is small, the difference in composition between the film and the evaporation material is made small. This reduces the variations in composition and characteristics among films formed in large quantities.

Abstract: An oxide evaporation material according to the present invention includes a sintered body containing indium oxide as a main component thereof and cerium with a Ce/In atomic ratio of 0.001 to 0.110. The L* value in the CIE 1976 color space is 62 to 95. The oxide evaporation material with the L* value of 62 to 95 has an optimal oxygen amount. Accordingly, even when a small amount of an oxygen gas is introduced into a film-formation vacuum chamber, a transparent conducting film having a low resistance and a high transmittance in the visible to near-infrared region is formed by vacuum deposition methods. Since the amount of the oxygen gas introduced is small, the difference in composition between the film and the evaporation material is made small. This reduces the variations in composition and characteristics among films formed in large quantities.

Abstract: Provided is a zinc oxide sintered compact tablet enabling a transparent conductive film having no pinholes defects to be stably obtained during vacuum deposition film formation by suppressing the occurrence of the splashing phenomenon. A zinc oxide sintered compact tablet having hexagonal crystal structure, wherein when the integrated intensity of surface (103) and surface (110) found through X-ray diffraction analysis using CuK? radiation is taken to be I(103) and I(110) respectively, the orientation of the uniaxially pressed surface that is expressed by I(103)/(I(103)+I(110)) is 0.48 or more is obtained by performing pressurized formation of a granulated powder composed of a zinc oxide powder or a powder mixture of zinc oxide and an added element as a dopant and having a percentage of donut shaped secondary particles of 50% or more, sintering at normal pressure and a temperature of 800° C. to 1300° C.

Abstract: A multilayer transparent electroconductive film is obtained by stacking a transparent electroconductive film (II) on a transparent electroconductive film (I), and in this structure, the transparent electroconductive film (I) contains one or more added elements selected from aluminum and gallium, and the content of the added elements is in a range represented by ?2.18×[Al]+1.74?[Ga]??1.92×[Al]+6.10. The transparent electroconductive film (II) contains one or more added elements selected from aluminum and gallium, and the content of the added elements is in a range represented by ?[Al]+0.30?[Ga]??2.68×[Al]+1.74. In this case, [Al] is the aluminum content expressed as the atomic ratio (%) Al/(Zn+Al) and [Ga] is the gallium content expressed as the atomic ratio (%) Ga/(Zn+Ga).