The characteristics and patterning of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) utilizing a sputter deposited amorphous carbon nitride (a-C:N) as a buffer layer have been discussed. Increased device performance has been achieved in a device of the a-C:N buffer layer that was less than 10 nm in thickness. The device with a 5-nm-thick a-C:N exhibited the maximum luminance of 32,000 cd/m(2) and the current efficiency of 4.6 cd/A at the current density of 1.2 A/cm(2) and 0.06 A/cm(2), respectively. The OLEDs with a-C:N buffer layer are useful for preventing the photodegradation suffered during photolithography process. The patterned emission of the device was obtained by using the a-C:N buffer layer as the protective layer to perform photolithography after deposited organic layer. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.