The photoluminescence of ZnO films implanted with phosphorus ions using plasma immersion ion implantation has been studied. The samples were rapid thermal annealed at 700-1000 °C. A dominant acceptor-bound exciton (A°X) peak around 3.35 eV was observed for the sample annealed at 1000 °C with no evidence of donor bound exciton peak at 3.36 eV. Moreover, the free electron-to-acceptor peak at 3.31 eV and the donor-to-acceptor pair peak at 3.22 eV certify the presence of acceptors in the annealed samples. I-V performed on p-ZnO/n-Si heterojunction diode clearly exhibited a rectifying behavior with a threshold voltage of 3.3 V. The results have been stable even after 5 months. These results show a promising method for achieving stable p-type ZnO films. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.