Biolite®, a vapor deposited, thin, amorphous carbon film, has been used successfully as a component of implantable medical devices during the last 25 years. Biolite®has not been previously characterized using XPS. We have used XPS to explore the chemical composition of Biolite®samples that are typical of those deposited onto implantable medical devices; we report the findings here. This data is an important part of any effort regarding understanding why Biolite®is a good biocompatible material. The data were collected using a Perkin–Elmer 5000-LS ESCA spectrometer with monochromated AlKαexcitation, at a resolution of 1.7895 eV.