Observation of sp3 bonding in tetrahedral amorphous carbon using visible Raman spectroscopy

Visible Raman spectroscopy excited at 532 nm was used to characterize the carbon bonding in tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films. The vibrational modes of the sp3 bonding in ta-C films were revealed directly. An additional Raman band occurring below 1350 cm−1 was observed. It consisted of two features centered on ∼1270 and ∼1170 cm−1, which were associated with sp3 bond stretching. The observed sp3 related Raman spectrum approached the vibrational density of states of amorphous diamond.