Carbon nitride films were deposited on sapphire, silicon, molybdenum and quartz substrates using a filtered cathodic arc with a radio frequency (rf) inductively coupled plasma, Previous researchers have used the cathodic arc but obtained low concentrations of nitrogen in their films. the addition of the rf coils was used to enhance dissociation of molecular nitrogen in the vicinity of the substrate. the resultant films were analyzed for chemical bonding and composition by several methods including Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), augei Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and infrared spectroscopy (IR). EELS and IR provided bonding information and showed that the films were largely composed of sp2 bonding and contained carbon-nitrogen double bonds, respectively. also, chemical composition of the films was determined using aES, IR and EELS.