Bonding in hydrogenated diamond-like carbon by Raman spectroscopy

We study the 514 and 244 nm Raman spectra of a wide variety of hydrogenated amorphous carbons (a-C:H). The hydrogen content can be estimated from the slope of the photoluminescence background (PL) of the spectra measured at 514.5 nm. Generally, the evolution of the sp(2) and sp(3) phases is not independent for as-deposited a-C:H samples. This, in principle, allows us to derive their structural and optical properties just by studying the visible Raman spectra. For highly hydrogenated samples, the PL background overshadows the visible Raman spectra, and UV excitation is the only way to measure a Raman spectrum.

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