Surface and bulk properties of the Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc prepared nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:N) films were characterized by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS), Raman spectroscopy, Atomic Force microscopy and contact angle techniques. An increase in the Nitrogen (N) content of the films is accompanied by a reduction in the sp(3) fraction, confirmed via the deconvolution of the C 1 s XPS spectra. Critical Raman parameters such as peak position and peak width of the G band, defect ratio, I(D)/I(G) and skewness of the G line were analyzed as a function of N content. ToF-SIMS showed the variance of chemical composition with the increase in the sputtering depth. While some amount of incorporated oxygen and hydrogen were observed for all films; for high N content ta-C:N films signature of CN bonds was evident. Surface energies (both polar and dispersive components) for these ta-C:N films were analyzed in a geometric mean approach. Contact angle measurements using both deionized water and ethylene glycol reveal that upon the insertion of nitrogen into ta-C films, the initial change in the contact angle is sharp, followed by a gradual decrease with subsequent increase in N content. The variation of contact angle with increasing N content corresponds to an increase of the total surface energy with an increase of the polar component and a decrease of the dispersive component. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.