Layer-structured oxide and process of producing the same

Abstract

A layer-structured oxide exhibiting a paraelectric characteristic and a layer-structured oxide having a preferable remanent polarization, and a process of producing the same. A layer-structured oxide containing Bi, a first component Me, a second component R, and O is produced by heating raw materials at a high temperature of about 1400° C. for several ten minutes by a self-flux method using Bi2O3 as a flux. The first component Me is composed of at least one kind selected from a group consisting of Sr, Pb, Ba, and Ca, and the second component R is composed of at least one kind selected from a group consisting of Nb and Ta. The composition formula of the oxide is expressed by Bi2−aMe1+bR2O9+c where a, b, and c are values in ranges of 0<a<2, 0<b≦0.4, and −0.3≦c≦1.4. The layer-structured oxide exhibits a paraelectric characteristic or a ferroelectric characteristic at a composition in a specific range out of the stoichiometric composition.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.