Investigation of carbon nitride films deposited by ion beam-assisted deposition with low bombarding energy of N ions

► CNx films were prepared by IBAD with low bombarding energy of assisted N ions. ► Growth rate of the CNx film decreased with increasing bombarding energy. ► Low bombarding energy could improve the [N]/[C] ratio and sp3/sp2 ratio. ► Low bombarding energy evidently influenced film's mechanical properties.