To provide an ultrafine carbon-containing coating material that can improve the emission characteristics inherently possessed by ultrafine carbon such as a carbon nanotube (CNT) or the like, can prolong a lifetime as an emitter and further can produce a field electron emission element excellent in emission characteristics of an emitter, to provide a process for producing an ultrafine carbon film, to provide an ultrafine carbon film and to provide a field electron emission element.

The ultrafine carbon-containing coating material is a coating material which comprises a composite material produced by combining ultrafine carbon such as a CNT, a carbon fiber, a needle-like carbon particle or the like with one kind or two or more kinds of metals or metal compounds selected from the group of elements consisting of an alkali metal, an alkaline earth metal, a transition element, a rare earth element and a noble metal, an organic solvent and an organic polymer.