Tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films have been prepared by the filtered cathodic vacuum are (FCVA) technique. The effect of the deposition parameters (such as deposition rate, duct bias and magnetic filtering field) on the film properties (such as sp(3) fraction, optical band gap and stress) were investigated. The film properties were determined as a function of the ion energy. A lower deposition rate is found to be more conducive to the formation of sp(3) bonding which results in a relative increase in the measured film properties. In addition, a higher optimal energy was also observed. However the change of duct bias voltage and magnetic filtering field have no effect on the sp(3) bonding and the position of the optimal energy.