Electron-Diffraction Evidence for Threefold Coordination in Amorphous Hydrogenated Carbon Films

Abstract

An electron-diffraction analysis is presented of the structure of amorphous hydrogenated carbon prepared from a dc magnetron glow discharge in argon-acetylene mixtures. On the basis of the evidence provided by the reduced intensity function, the atomic radial distribution function, and a reconstruction of the reduced intensity function based on a graphite layer model, it is concluded that such films exhibit a threefold coordinated structure with only slight correlation in the positions of two-dimensional layers.