Auger electron spectroscopy has been used to characterize carbon films produced by a pure laser process [E. D. B. Bourdon, P. Kovarik, and R. H. Prince, Diamond Relat. Mater. 2, 425 (1993); E. D. B. Bourdon and R. H. Prince, U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 821416 (filed 14 January 1992) Canadian Patent Application Ser. No. 2059185-4 (filed 10 January 1992)]. The analysis of the resulting spectra has been extended from the usual chemical element identification to qualitative carbon bond characterization. The data collection was performed in N(E) mode followed by deconvolution to isolate the true Auger peak. A multiple Gaussian fit was then used to approximate the density of states components and identify the electron pair contributions. This process was used to identify the components of highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) and chemical vapor deposited diamond spectra before application to the laser-deposited materials a-C, a-C:H, and microcrystalline diamond. The HOPG and a-C spectra were compared and components affected by the sp3 content and short-range order identified. The a-C:H specrum was observed to contain a C-H component and a satellite peak associated with the "shake-off " process of the C-H system. Heating of the sample reduced these features as hydrogen was expelled, and the film approached the a-C structure. The analysis of the microcrystalline diamond spectrum showed a more complex system containing contributions from diamond and SiC.