Amorphic carbon films either 50 or 160 nm thick were deposited on Si(100) and glass substrates at room temperature in a high-vacuum environment using a Q-switched Nd-YAG pulse laser focused on a graphite target. These films were irradiated with Ti+ or C+ ions having kinetic energies of 35 and 75 keV, and the changes in internal stresses of the films with varying ion influence were investigated by measuring substrate bending using stylus profilometry. The ion energy and the film thickness were chosen such that the ion penetration depth, R(p), corresponded to either the film thickness or one half of the film thickness. The results indicate that there is an optimum ion fluence leading to a stress-free film for a given ion species and energy. Interpretation of the resulting stress behavior from ion irradiation was made based on the relaxation resulting from damage inside the film together with interfacial mixing. The scanning electron microscopy pictures and surface roughness measurements showed a very smooth surface for both as-deposited and ion-irradiated films. The ion-irradiated films had a Vickers hardness greater than 22 GPa, and were adherent to both Si and glass substrates. An investigation of the film characteristics using Raman scattering and electron-energy loss spectra has revealed that high-energy ion irradiation of an intermediate ion fluence can be utilized successfully to deposit an adherent and hard carbon film with controlled internal stress without changing the film structure significantly.