Carbon nitride films have been prepared by two different types of coating technique : ion-assisted are deposition and magnetron sputtering. The optical properties and microhardness of the formed carbon nitride films were studied. The results showed that, by both methods, nitrogen could be incorporated into the films to a maximum N-to-C ratio of 0.5. The refractive index and reflectance of the films were found to decrease as the nitrogen content in the films increased, while the extinction coefficient did not change significantly. When the N-2 gas was replaced in the deposition process by H-2 gas, the films became more transparent. The microhardness of the films was also decreased with increasing nitrogen content and decreased further when the nitrogen was incorporated into films by higher energy N+ ion bombardment. In the magnetron sputtering, the sputtering power had a marked effect on the optical properties of the formed films.