We investigate the growth process and structural proper-ties of phosphorus incorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:P) films which are deposited at different substrate biases by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique with PH3 as the dopant source. The films are characterized by Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, residual stress measurement, UV/VIS/NIR absorption spectroscopy and temperature-dependent conductivity measurement. The atomic fraction of phosphorus in the films as a function of substrate bias is obtained by XPS analysis. The optimum bias for phosphor-us incorporation is about -80 V. Raman spectra show that the amorphous structures of all samples with atomic-scaled smooth surface are not remarkably changed when PH3 is implanted, but some small graphitic crystallites are formed. Moreover, phosphorus impurities and higher-energetic impinging ions are favorable for the clustering of sp(2) sites dispersed in sp(3) skeleton and increase the level of structural ordering for ta-C:P films, which further releases the compressive stress and enhances the conductivity of the films. Our analysis establishes an interrelationship between microstructure, stress state, electrical properties, and substrate bias, which helps to understand the deposition mechanism of ta-C:P films. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.