Raman Characterisation of Diamond Coatings Using Different Laser Wavelengths

Diamond layers can show different morphologies, i.e. well-facetted, fine-grained and ballas diamond. Additionally, the types NCD (nanocrystalline diamond), UNCD (ultra nanocrystalline diamond) and various types of amorphous carbon (a- C, a-CH …) are known. To characterise the various carbon deposits Raman spectroscopy is most common, because this technique is simple to handle. With a modern Raman spectrometer, provided with three different laser units (wavelengths 472,681 nm/ blue, 532,1 nm/ green, 632,81 nm/ red), the same spot of a sample can be measured several times. A set of diamond coatings, representing the different morphologies, and moreover, boron doped levels were selected for Raman characterisation. Varying the laser wavelength, highly different Raman spectra were obtained and their interpretation is quite difficult.