In this paper, the amorphous silicon carbonitride (SiCxNy) films were prepared by radio frequency (RF) magnetron reactive sputtering using sintered SiC target. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) were used for structural characterization of the films. The results revealed the formation of complex networks among the three elements (Si, C and N) and the existence of different chemical bonds in the SiCxNy films such as C-N, C=N C drop N, Si-C and Si-N. The stoichiometry of the as-deposited films was found to be close to SiCN. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) observation showed a very smooth surface morphology of the as-deposited films, which was proved to be amorphous by high-resolution electron micrography (HREM) and selected area diffraction (SAD) and remained very stable even after exposure to electron bombardment.