Amorphous carbon (a-C) films were prepared by a radio-frequency sputtering method. Nano structures in the films were controlled by changing the ion irradiation energy and deposition temperature. It was found that nanocrystalline graphite and diamond clusters were embedded in the pure amorphous structure with sizes of approximately 5 nm. a-C films contained nanocrystalline graphite clusters (a-C:NCG) were obtained with the ion energy ranging from 50 to 120 eV and temperature in 300-370 K. a-C film contained nanocrystalline diamond clusters (a-C:NCD) was obtained with 120 eV at 570 K. Nanoindentation behaviors of these carbon films were compared with pure amorphous structured carbon film. The percentage of elastic recoveries of a-C:NCD, a-C, and a-C:NCG films were obtained to be 81.9%, 84.3%, and 87.5%, respectively. Pop-in steps with about 3 nm displacement appeared in loading curves for aC:NCG film, and 10 nm for a-C:NCD film. These results showed that the nanoindentation behaviors of amorphous carbon film containing cross-linked nanocrystalline graphite clusters is better than that of diamond clusters. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.