The preparation by magnetron sputtering of p-type semiconducting thin films consisting Of a multicomponent oxide composed of Cu oxide and Co oxide is described. The electrical, optical, and crystallographical properties of films deposited by rf magnetron sputtering using (Cu2O)(1-x) (CoO)(x) powder targets were strongly dependent on not only the deposition condition but also the calcination, condition as well as the COO content of the targets. These properties drastically changed in films prepared with a COO content around 90 mol %. All prepared films, i.e., COO content in the range from 0 to 100 mol %, were found to be p type, or positive hole conductors, as evidenced from the Seebeck effect: Resistivities in the range from 10(3) to 10(-3) Omega cm. A hole concentration on the order of 10(16) cm(-3) and a mobility on the order of 10(-1) cm(2)/V S were obtained in an amorphous, multicomponent oxide film prepared with a COO content of 50 mol %. Fabricated thin-film pin heterojunction diodes consisting of a p-type high-resistance multicomponent oxide combined with undoped ZnO and n-type Al-doped ZnO exhibited a rectifying current-voltage characteristic. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society.