  Do $N$-partite $k$-uniform states always exist when $k\leq
\lfloor\frac{N}{2}\rfloor-1$? In this work, we provide new upper bounds on the
parameter $k$ for the existence of $k$-uniform states in
$(\mathbb{C}^{d})^{\otimes N}$ when $d=3,4,5$, which extend Rains' bound in
1999 and improve Scott's bound in 2004. Since a $k$-uniform state in
$(\mathbb{C}^{d})^{\otimes N}$ corresponds to a pure $((N,1,k+1))_{d}$ quantum
error-correcting codes, we also give new upper bounds on the minimum distance
$k+1$ of pure $((N,1,k+1))_d$ quantum error-correcting codes. Furthermore, we
generalize Scott's bound to heterogeneous systems, and show some non-existence
results of absolutely maximally entangled states in
$\mathbb{C}^{d_1}\otimes(\mathbb{C}^{d_2})^{\otimes 2n}$.
