Thin films have been successfully utilized to improve the property of mechanical components. However, it is generally known that mechanical properties, such as elastic constants and tensile strength,of thin films, are different from those of bulk material, and they are not known in the present state. In many times, x-ray stress measurement revealed a very high compressive residual stress state in the film when bulk elastic constants were used in the stress calculation. The purpose of this research is to investigate the elastic constants of chromium nitride (CrN) films. The film was deposited on austenitic stainless steel (JIS: SUS304) substrates by the arc-ion-plating (AIP) method under the following conditions: the pressure of nitrogen atmosphere was maintained at 2.63 Pa, the substrate temperature of about 573 K, the arc discharge current of 100 A, the bias voltage between -300 and -100 V, and the substrate rotating rate at 3 rpm. The lattice strain of CrN films was measured by x-ray method at various loading stages and the x-ray elastic constants of CrN films were evaluated. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.