Raman scattering has been studied in the amorphous form of Si and several related, tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors (Ge, GaAs, GaP, InSb). All vibrational modes of the material can take part in the scattering process, and the Raman spectrum is a measure of the density of vibrational states. The amorphous phases are found to have vibrational spectra very similar to the corresponding crystals, reflecting the similarity in short-range order of the two phases.

• Received 12 February 1971

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.26.642