Spin defects and recombination in hydrogenated amorphous carbon films

Abstract As-prepared and annealed hydrogenated amorphous carbon films were used to study the influence of dangling bonds on the photoluminescence efficiency. The samples were produced by RF glow-discharge decomposition of methane. The as-prepared samples have high photoluminescence and intermediate hardness. We found that there is a one-to-one correspondence between dangling bonds and luminescence efficiency irrespective of annealing temperature. Similar to hydrogenated amorphous silicon, our results suggest a non radiative recombination process via dangling bonds located mainly in the sp 3 carbon-hydrogen network.