The possibility for white light emitting devices using carbon nitride (CNx) thin films has been studied. Microwave ECR-plasma CVD and RF-sputtering apparatuses have been used for the formation of CNx thin films. In both cases, CH4 was used as the source or sub-source of carbon in order to investigate the effect of hydrogenated carbon nitride for luminescence. The cathodeluminescence (CL) measurement of the film grown by ECR-plasma CVD method showed three peaks of R/G/B. The photoluminescence (PL) measurement of the film grown by RF-sputtering also showed the red peak, which could not be observed in the film without hydrogen. Together with the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis data, we concluded that the red peak originates from C-H bonds and blue peak from C-N bonds.

We developed a dual-gate field-effect transistor (FET) hydrogen gas sensor for application to hydrogen vehicles. The dual-gate FET hydrogen sensor was integrated with a Pt-gate FET to detect hydrogen and a Ti-gate FET as the reference sensor in the same Si chip. The Ti-FET had the same structure as the Pt-FET except for the gate metal. The Pt-FET showed a good response to hydrogen gas above 10 ppm in air, while the Ti-FET did not show any response to hydrogen gas. The differential output voltage between the Pt-FET and the Ti-FET was stable in the temperature range from room temperature to 80 °C because of the same temperature dependence of the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics. In addition, the temperature of the integrated hydrogen sensor was controlled by an integrated system consisting of a heater and a thermometer at any given temperature under severe weather conditions.

A new carbon-nitride-related C 2 N 2 (CH 2 ) nanoplatelet was synthesized by subjecting a precursor C 3 N 4 H x O y nanoparticle in a laser-heating diamond anvil cell to the pressure of 40 GPa and temperature of 1200-2000 K. The C and N composition of the quenched sample was determined to be C 3 N 2 by using an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope attached to a transmission electron microscope. The crystal structure and atomic positions of this C 3 N 2 were obtained through Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffraction pattern measured using synchrotron radiation. The hydrogen composition was difficult to determine experimentally because of the several-hundred-nanometer dimensions of the sample. Firstprinciples calculation was alternatively used to discover the hydrogen composition. The synthesized C 2 N 2 (CH 2 ) was accordingly found to be an orthorhombic unit cell of the space group Cmc2 1 with lattice constants a ¼ 7:625 A, b ¼ 4:490 A, and c ¼ 4:047 A. If the CH 2 atomic unit is replaced with the CN 2 atomic unit and the bonding rearranged, the C 2 N 2 (CH 2 ) becomes the expected superhard C 3 N 4 .

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films, which are amorphous carbon films, have been used as hard-coating films for protecting the surface of mechanical parts. Nitrogen-containing DLC (N-DLC) films are expected as conductive hard-coating materials. N-DLC films are expected in applications such as protective films for contact pins, which are used in the electrical check process of integrated circuit chips. In this study, N-DLC films are prepared using the T-shaped filtered arc deposition (T-FAD) method, and film properties are investigated. Film hardness and film density decreased when the N content increased in the films because the number of graphite structures in the DLC film increased as the N content increased. These trends are similar to the results of a previous study. The electrical resistivity of N-DLC films changed from 0.26 to 8.8 Ω cm with a change in the nanoindentation hardness from 17 to 27 GPa. The N-DLC films fabricated by the T-FAD method showed high mechanical hardness and low electrical resistivity.

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