The plasma properties in the facing target sputtering system during carbon nitride film deposition have been investigated. The ionized nitrogen species of the deposited films increased with increasing discharge current and were independent of the nitrogen pressure. The nitrogen content in the films did not vary significantly with the variation of nitrogen gas. The electron temperature was high close to that in the inter-cathode region, reduced as the electrons moved away from the most intense region of magnetic confinement and increased again outside this region. Calculations based on the film composition showed that the ion to carbon atom ratio at the substrate was about 50 and that the ratio between the ionized and neutral nitrogen molecules was about 0.25.