Elastic recoil detection (ERD) with energetic heavy ions (e.g. 60-120 MeV(127)I) is a suitable method to measure depth profiles of light and medium heavy elements in thin films. The advantages of this method are reliable and quantitative results and elementally and isotopically resolved depth profiles. A relative energy resolution of 0.07% has been measured in real ERD-experiments using the Q3D magnetic spectrograph at the Munich tandem accelerator and a large solid angle of detection of 5 msr. The good energy resolution allows atomic depth resolution near to the surface which has been obtained at flat and smooth carbon samples. A large solid angle of detection is necessary to measure a depth profile with the desired accuracy before the sample is significantly altered by the ion beam. As an example carbon profiles of thin carbon layers, prepared by a laser plasma ablation deposition process, have been investigated revealing the high depth resolution and its power to resolve elemental profiles at gradiated interfaces.