The name “diamondlike carbon” (DLC) designates a variety of amorphous carbon (a-C) materials, whose properties are similar to those of crystalline diamond. There are several actual and potential applications of amorphous carbon diamond-like thin films. a-C films have been prepared in a variety of ways using carbon sputtered from graphite or starting from a hydrocarbon precursor: glow discharge, laser-induced chemical vapor deposition, introduction of gases in a saddle-field source and by ion-beam techniques. In order to improve some qualities of a-C films, different elements (as nitrogen or silicon) have been included in the carbon amorphous matrix. In this review we summarize the characteristics of the structure, mechanical properties and thermal behavior of amorphous carbon (a-C), amorphous carbon-nitrogen (a-C:N) and amorphous carbon-silicon (a-Si_xC_1-x) films obtained using high-energy ion beam deposition methods and of carbon films produced from fullerene a C60 + ion beam.