The ion fluxes and energies which impinge on the substrate during the deposition of chromium nitride by asymmetric bipolar pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtering have been analyzed using energy resolved mass spectrometry. It has been found that there is a remarkable increase in ion flux at higher pulse frequencies and that the peak ion energy is directly related to the positive voltage overshoot of the target voltage. The magnitude of the metal flux depositing on the substrate is consistent with a "dead time" of similar to 0.7 mu s at the start of the on period. The variation of the ion flux with pulse frequency has been explained by a simple model in which the ion density during the on period has a large peak which is slightly delayed from the large negative voltage overshoot which occurs at the start of the on pulse due to increased ionization at that time. This is consistent with the previously observed phenomena in pulsed sputtering.