A Toyohashi University of Technology research team led by lecturer Toru Harigai has developed an ultra-high-rate coating technology for functional hard carbon films using vacuum plasma. Functional hard carbon films with low friction coefficients are used as protective films with sliding surfaces. This technology has achieved a film deposition rate of more than one order of magnitude faster than existing coating technologies, while maintaining the same degree of film quality. The technology—which can be introduced using a unique gas injection method and simple equipment configuration—can be expected to be applied in improving the functional performance of general-purpose products and other mass-produced products.