This work describes the development of a facility for the analysis of materials, with particular interest in semiconductors, using Raman spectroscopy. In the apparatus described here a holographic notch filter was used to reject the Rayleigh scattered light, and two different spectrometers were evaluated for spectral analysis of the Raman signal. The first spectrometer was a short focal length (0 lm) system and allowed a portable, compact device to be developed. The second system used a lm spectrometer for situations requiring high-resolution spectral analysis. In both cases a Peltier cooled CCD detector was employed for signal collection. The use of a fibre optic collection was investigated using the compact Raman system. The compact and high-resolution systems were both tested and characterised in terms of spectral resolution and response. Different chemical and semiconductor samples were examined using both of these systems. The particular materials were chosen to test the ability of these prototype Raman systems. The results of the analyses performed are presented here.