A sintered article is fabricated which contains one or more of indium oxide, zinc oxide, and tin oxide as a component thereof and contains any one or more types of metal out of hafnium oxide, tantalum oxide, lanthanide oxide, and bismuth oxide. A backing plate is attached to this sintered article to constitute a sputtering target. This sputtering target is used to fabricate a conductive film on a predetermined substrate by sputtering. This conductive film achieves a large work function while maintaining as much transparency as heretofore. This conductive film can be used to achieve an EL device or the like of improved hole injection efficiency.