To exceedingly reduce the specific resistance value and to realize economical d.c. sputtering high in power efficiency and also high in a film forming rate by making a sintered body having a specified compsn. composed of SiO2, transition metal and zinc chalcogenate to a sputtering target.

Uniformly mixed powder composed of SiO2 of 10 to 30 mol%, transition metal or the compd. thereof of 5 to 30%, and the balance zinc chalcogenate is hot-pressed into a disk shape under about 300 to 400 kgf/cm2 pressure at about 850 to 1,100°C in a gaseous Ar atmosphere to obtain a sputtering target for forming an optical recording protective film capable of d.c. sputtering. As the transition metal, Ti, Cr, Zr, La, Hf, V, Nb, Mo and W, particularly, Ti, Cr and Zr are desirable, and moreover, as the compd. of transition metal, the boride of transition metal is most preferable. Further, zinc sulfide is most preferable as the zinc chalcogenate.