title: Electronic structure and chemical bonding of amorphous chromium carbide thin films.
abstract: The microstructure, electronic structure and chemical bonding of chromium carbide thin films with different carbon contents have been investigated with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy and soft x-ray absorption-emission spectroscopies. Most of the films can be described as amorphous nanocomposites with non-crystalline CrC(x) in an amorphous carbon matrix. At high carbon contents, graphene-like structures are formed in the amorphous carbon matrix. At 47 at.% carbon content, randomly oriented nanocrystallites are formed creating a complex microstructure of three components. The soft x-ray absorption-emission study shows additional peak structures exhibiting non-octahedral coordination and bonding.
authors.affiliation: Thin Film Physics Division, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Martin.Magnuson@ifm.liu.se
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Magnuson
authors.forename: Matilda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hultman
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jansson
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002857:Chromium / Q000737:chemistry*; D004548:Elasticity; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004583:Electrons; D006244:Hardness; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
chemical_list: D002857:Chromium; D002244:Carbon