An electrochemically active material includes an alloy represented by general formula (I): Si.sub.aTi.sub.bO.sub.cN.sub.dM.sub.e, (I) where a, b, c, d, and e represent atomic % values, a+b+c+d+e=100, M includes carbon or a transition metal element other than titanium, a>20, a+b+e≥c+d, c≥0, d>5, e≥0, and a/b>0.5. The alloy includes a transition metal silicide, titanium nitride, or titanium oxynitride phase, and the phase has a Schemer grain size that is greater than 2 nm and less than 10 nm.

A titanium carbonitride powder for use as a starting material for a hard material satisfies a D50 of from 2.0 m to 6.0 m and a D10/D90 of from 0.20 to 0.50, wherein D50 is a particle size at a cumulative percentage of 50% of a particle size distribution by volume, D10 is a particle size at a cumulative percentage of 10% of the particle size distribution by volume, and D90 is a particle size at a cumulative percentage of 90% of the particle size distribution by volume.

A complex carbonitride powder contains Ti as a main component element and at least one additional element selected from the group consisting of Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Al, and Si. The complex carbonitride powder includes a plurality of complex carbonitride particles containing Ti and the additional element. The plurality of complex carbonitride particles include a plurality of homogeneous composition particles where average concentrations of Ti and the additional element in each complex carbonitride particle have a difference in a range of greater than or equal to 5 atom % and less than or equal to 5 atom % from average concentrations of Ti and the additional element in the whole complex carbonitride powder. A cross-sectional area of the homogeneous composition particles is greater than or equal to 90% of a cross-sectional area of the complex carbonitride particles 1p.

A coated cutting tool, comprising: a substrate; and a coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein the coating layer includes a lower part layer and an upper part layer formed on the lower part layer, the lower part layer has an average thickness of 2.0 m or more and 15.0 m or less, and is formed of a Ti oxycarbonitride layer including a compound having a composition represented by formula (1) below:
Ti(C.sub.1-x-yN.sub.xO.sub.y)(1)
(where, x denotes an atomic ratio of an N element based on a total of a C element, the N element, and an O element, y denotes an atomic ratio of the O element based on a total of the C element, the N element, and the O element, and 0.35x0.60 and 0.01y0.10 are satisfied),
a FWHM of a rocking curve of a plane (4,2,2) of the lower part layer, which is obtained through X-ray diffraction, is 20 or less, the upper part layer is formed of an -aluminum oxide layer having an average thickness of 1.0 m or more and 15.0 m or less, and a FWHM of a rocking curve of a plane (0,0,12) of the upper part layer, which is obtained through X-ray diffraction, is 20 or less.

A vanadium silicon carbonitride film includes vanadium, silicon, carbon, and nitrogen, wherein when vanadium element concentration/(vanadium element concentration+silicon element concentration+carbon element concentration+nitrogen element concentration) in the film is defined as a, and silicon element concentration/(vanadium element concentration+silicon element concentration+carbon element concentration+nitrogen element concentration) in the film is defined as b, 0.30a/b1.3 and 0.30a+b0.70 are satisfied, and a total of the vanadium element concentration, the silicon element concentration, the carbon element concentration, and the nitrogen element concentration in the film is 90 [at %] or more.

Cermet contains a hard phase which contains carbonitride containing Ti and Nb and a metallic binder phase containing an iron-group element. The hard phase includes a granular core portion and a peripheral portion which covers at least a part of the core portion. The core portion contains composite carbonitride expressed as Ti.sub.1-X-YNb.sub.XW.sub.YC.sub.1-ZN.sub.Z, where Y is not smaller than 0 and not greater than 0.05 and Z is not smaller than 0.3 and not greater than 0.6. The peripheral portion is composed to be higher in content of W than the core portion.

A compound of Formula 1

Li.sub.((2+(6a))+(b2))W.sub.(1)M.sup.a.sub.O.sub.(4)A.sup.b.sub.(1)

wherein M is at least one cationic element with valence of a, A is an anion having a valence of b, is a content of oxygen vacancies, 3a5, 1b3, 00.5, 00.3, and 00.1.

A preparation method of carbon nitride modified with perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride/graphene oxide aerogel composite material includes: (1) preparing carbon nitride nanosheets by calcination using dicyandiamide as raw material; (2) reacting perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride and carbon nitride nanosheets in imidazole to prepare carbon nitride modified with perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride; (3) dispersing said carbon nitride modified with perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride and graphene oxide into deionized water, freeze-drying after the reaction to obtain carbon nitride modified with perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride/graphene oxide aerogel composite material.

A hard alloy includes complex carbonitride hard phases that contain Ti and at least one additional element, and a metal binder phase containing an iron group element as a main component element. The complex carbonitride hard phases include homogeneous composition hard phases where in-complex carbonitride hard phase average concentrations of Ti and the additional element have a difference of greater than or equal to 5 atom % and less than or equal to 5 atom % from average concentrations of Ti and the additional element in all the complex carbonitride hard phases. On any cross section specified in the hard alloy, a cross-sectional area of the homogeneous composition hard phases accounts for greater than or equal to 80% of a cross-sectional area of the complex carbonitride hard phases, and the homogeneous composition hard phases account for greater than or equal to 80% of the complex carbonitride hard phases in number.

An interconnect structure includes a metal interconnect layer, a dielectric layer on the metal interconnect layer, a fluorocarbon layer on the dielectric layer, a metal interconnect extending through the fluorocarbon layer and the dielectric layer to the metal interconnect layer. The metal interconnect includes a first portion extending through the fluorocarbon layer and into an upper portion of the dielectric layer and a second portion below the first portion and extending through a lower portion of the dielectric layer to the metal interconnect layer.