Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
We report the synthesis of a crystalline carbon-nitrogen compound having a zero-pressure bulk modulus of ∼ 249 GPa. Its crystal-structural and compressional properties are in good accord with those predicted theoretically by Teter and Hemley for a cubic C3N4 phase. Experimentally, this phase is synthesized at pressures and temperatures above 18 GPa and 2000 K. It decomposes upon pressure release below 14 GPa, and may offer a route to synthesizing other incompressible carbon nitride phases.