Amorphous carbon films have been prepared by special pulsed vacuum are depositon methods allowing high currents up to 1 kA and more. The Young’s modulus of these films has been determined with respect to various technological parameters. For these measurements a method based on the propagation of ultrasonic surface waves has been applied which has been specially designed for the investigation of thin films below one micrometer. Large changes of the elastic modulus, depending on the technology, have been observed, contrasting with the common understanding of invariability of the elastic behaviour. Reflecting the large structural variations possible in amorphous carbon, the elastic modulus represents a suitable parameter for characterizing the carbon-carbon network. Furthermore, the elastic modulus of amorphous carbon films may be used for a first estimation of film hardness because of the strong correlation of these two quantities.