ITO SPUTTERING TARGET, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) sputtering target of which the yield hardly degrades due to cracks though the content of tin oxide is as low as 3.5 mass%, and to provide a method for producing the same. SOLUTION: The ITO sputtering target (a sintered body) is produced by using first granulated powder in which the content of tin oxide to that of indium oxide is ≥0% and ≤1% in terms of the mass ratio, and second granulated powder in which the content of tin oxide is ≥3% and ≤6% in terms of the mass ratio. In the sputtering target, the content of tin oxide to that of indium oxide is ≥1.5% and ≤3.5% in terms of the mass ratio, the relative density of the sintered body is ≥98%, the crystal phase of the sintered body is a single phase, and the mean crystal grain size is ≤10 μm. The ratio of the maximum crystal grain size at a thickness-direction center part of the sintered body to that at a surface part of the sintered body is 0.5-1, and the bending strength of the sintered body is ≥70 MPa. COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT