In this work, vanadium nitride (VN) thin films deposited on 52100 steel substrates with magnetron sputtering system using two vanadium targets and Ar/N 2 gas atmosphere at different substrate pulse frequencies. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) were used to analyze the microstructure and elemental composition of the films. Adhesion and fatigue properties of films were analyzed a scratch tester. Pin-on-disc tribo-tester was carried out to determine tribological properties. It was observed from the test results that substrate pulse frequency has a significant effect on mechanical and tribological properties of VN films. According to XRD, all films have VN and V 2 N phases. The intensity of V 2 N (211) peak decreased with increasing frequency, whereas VN (111) peak intensity were increased. Also, the film thickness slightly changed depending on the pulse frequency. The best mechanical and tribological properties were found at 200kHz substrate pulse frequency.