The effect of carbon content on strain compensation in rapid thermal chemical vapour deposited Si-1 (-) (x) (-) yGexCy films was investigated using Raman spectroscopy as x varies from 10% to 16% and y varies from 0% to 1.8%. The dependence of the Raman intensities of the carbon-local modes and the Si-Si modes versus carbon content was analysed. A linear dependence has been revealed for the integrated and peak intensities of these vibrational modes versus C content for samples with x <= 16%. This shows that Raman scattering measurements can be utilised for determination of the substitutional carbon content in SiGeC layers with a Ge content up to 16%. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.