Carbon nitride(CNx)thin films have been deposited using a hybrid system combining pulsed laser deposition of graphite with the surface-wave discharge atomic nitrogen source (3&percent;N2in Ar). Using this system, an experiment is designed to study the influence of the atomic nitrogen flux on the composition of theCNxthin films at various laser intensities. The nitrogen percentage in the thin films is positively correlated with the N atom flux impinging on the substrate surface but it is counter-productive to use excessively high values of laser intensities on the graphite target. For a laser intensity of6×108 W/cm2,the nitrogen percentage increases with the N atom flux and saturates at only about 16 at. &percent;. On the other hand, a maximum nitrogen percentage of 30 at. &percent; is obtained at the much lower laser intensity of5×107 W/cm2.©1997 American Institute of Physics.