A study was made of the identification of the vacancy-hydrogen complex in single crystal diamond synthesized by chemical vapor deposition. The S = 1 defect was observed by electron paramagnetic resonance in the negative charge state. The H atom was bonded to one of the C atoms neighboring the vacancy. Unlike the analogous defect in silicon, no symmetry lowering reconstruction occurred between the three remaining C dangling orbitals. The very small measured H hyperfine interaction was explained by dipolar coupling between the H and the unpaired electron probability density delocalized on the three equivalent C neighbors.

Hydrogen Incorporation in Diamond - the Vacancy-Hydrogen Complex. C.Glover, M.E.Newton, P.M.Martineau, S.Quinn, D.J.Twitchen: Physical Review Letters, 2004, 92[13], 135502 (3pp)