An unexpected temperature dependence of the electron spin resonance line-width for the D-center resonance in polycrystalline material was reported. Different temperature dependences were found in as-prepared and H-passivated polycrystalline samples. This observation invalidated the identification of this resonance with a static dangling bond, and changed the view of similar D-center resonances which were observed in amorphous Si, in porous Si, and at crystalline interfaces. It was proposed that motional averaging was the principal mechanism for this effect.

Direct observation of dangling-bond motion in disordered silicon N.H.Nickel, E.A.Schiff: Physical Review B, 1998, 58[3], 1114-7