The effects of radio-frequency (rf) power on the properties of carbon thin films prepared by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) enhanced with remote inductively-coupled-plasma (ICP) are investigated. Acetylene and nitrogen were used as the precursor gases, and rf-powers of ICP were set as 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 W. The deposition temperature, working pressure, and deposition time were set as 1248 K, 4 kPa, and 2 h, respectively. The residual gases, film thicknesses, microstructures, chemical characteristics, mechanical properties, and electrical properties of carbon thin films were investigated by residual gas analyzer (RGA), field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometer (and Raman scattering spectrometer), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, nanoindenter, and four point probe, respectively. RGA results reveal that the main species in the gas phase contain H-2, C2H, C2H2, HCN (or C2H3), and N-2 (or C2H4). Moreover, C2H, C2H2, and C2H4 can be speculated as the main species for carbon thin film deposition. As the rf-power increases from 0 to 400 W, the deposition rate of carbon thin films decreases from 204 to 36.0 nm/h. The crystallinity and ordering degree of carbon thin films increase with increasing rf-power from 0 to 400 W, but the ratio of sp(2) carbon sites in carbon thin films decreases from 95 to 75%. The Young's modulus, hardness, and electrical resistivity of carbon thin films increase with increasing rf-power. Furthermore, the effects of rf-power on the deposition rates of carbon thin films prepared by thermal CVD enhanced with remote ICP using C2H2/N-2 and CH4/N-2 mixtures are compared. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.