We have produced hydrogen-free tetrahedral amorphous carbon films with different densities and Young's modulus by coating silicon with a filtered vacuum arc under different angles. The films were modified with a pulsed laser (wavelength 355 nm) into sp(2) rich amorphous carbon and nano crystalline carbon films. The graphitization threshold of the films depends on the film thickness as well as on the carbon density. Simulations of the optical absorption of the different carbon films permitted to confirm the experimental results. On the other side, the delamination threshold of carbon films increases with the film thickness and was found to be controlled by thermal properties of the film. The thin film graphitization and delamination is investigated by optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.