Patent ID: 8304359

Claim:
A sputtering target which is composed of a sintered body of an oxide comprising indium, tin and zinc as main components; the atomic ratio of In/(In+Sn+Zn) being 0.10 to 0.35; the atomic ratio of Sn/(In+Sn+Zn) being 0.15 to 0.35; and the atomic ratio of Zn/(In+Sn+Zn) being 0.50 to 0.70; and comprising a hexagonal layered compound shown by In 2 O 3 (ZnO) m , wherein m is an integer of 3 to 9, and a spinet structure compound shown by Zn 2 SnO 4 and wherein, in an X-ray diffraction, the maximum peak intensity (I(In 2 O 3 (ZnO) m )) of the hexagonal layered compound, the maximum peak intensity (I(Zn 2 SnO 4 )) of the spinel structure compound, and the maximum peak intensity (I(SnO 2 )) of a rutile structure compound shown by SnO 2 satisfy the following relationship: (I(In 2 O 3 (ZnO) m ))/(I(Zn 2 SnO 4 ))<1 (I(SnO 2 ))/(I(In 2 O 3 (ZnO) m ))<1 (I(SnO 2 ))/(I(Zn 2 SnO 4 ))<1.