The density of states of ta-C, ta-C:H and a-C:H as determined by X-ray excited photoelectron spectroscopy and molecular dynamics calculation

Abstract The valence band spectra of amorphous carbon modifications with and without hydrogen covering the range from so-called diamond-like carbon to mainly tetrahedrally coordinated (ta-C, ta-C:H) carbon were determined by photoelectron spectroscopy. The results are compared with densities of states calculated for finite clusters with structures that were obtained from molecular dynamics calculations. From this comparison correlations between spectroscopic features and structural elements in the amorphous carbon modifications are derived.