Carbon Kalpha and nitrogen Kalpha X-ray emission spectra (XES) excited by monochromatic synchrotron radiation have been used to characterize carbon nitride films (N/C ratio 0.25, mass density 2.6 g/cm(3)) synthesized by reactive ionized cluster beam deposition. XES measurements of these carbon nitride films show a predominant proportion of sp(2) bonded carbon and nitrogen atoms.