13 pages, 9 figures.Low-pressure, plasma-enhanced (PE)CVD is a powerful and versatile technique that has been used for thin-film deposition and surface treatment since the early 1960s. However, it is only recently that it has been used in applications other than the different stages of microelectronic circuit fabrication. Now, PECVD is being used in emerging applications due to new materials and process requirements in a wide variety of areas, such as biomedical applications, solar cells, fuel cell development, fusion research, or the synthesis of silicon nanocrystals showing efficient photoluminescence, useful for future solid-state light sources. These new scenarios have stimulated further development of novel PECVD diagnostic techniques, together with fundamental experimental and theoretical studies aimed at a better understanding of some of the basic processes underlying the plasma/surface interaction. This paper gives an overview of some new research areas where PECVD is finding promising applications.FJGV acknowledges partial financial support from CSIC-CAM (Project No. 200550M016 and 200650M016) and MEC (Projects No. MAT2006-13006-C02-01 and ENE2006-14577-C04-03), VJH and IT acknowledge funding from MEC (Projects No. FTN-2003-08228-C03-03, FIS2004-00456 and ENE2006-14577-C04-03).Peer reviewed