A series of W-Si-C (4-5 at.%)-N nanocomposite coatings with different C contents have been deposited on Si wafer substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering of W-Si-C composite target in Ar + N-2 mixed atmosphere. Microstructure characteristics and mechanical properties of W-Si-C-N coatings were investigated in this paper. Results exhibited that W-Si-C-N coatings possess nanocomposite microstructure where nano-crystallites W-2(C, N) embedded in amorphous matrix of Si3N4/CNx/C. As the C content increased, the hardness and Youngs' modulus of the W-Si-C-N coatings first increased and then decreased, reaching the maximum value of approximate 36 GPa and 382 GPa, respectively, for coatings containing 11.1 at.% C. All the coatings are in compressive stress state, ranging from 0.8 to 2.0 GPa. In addition, friction coefficient of the W-Si-C-N coatings considerably decreased with the increase of C content. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.