Dangling bond electron spin-lattice relaxation in rf-sputtered hydrogenated amorphous silicon and silicon carbide

Electron spin resonance methods have been used to measure the temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation time T1 of dangling bond electrons in hydrogenated amorphous silicon and silicon carbide samples prepared by radio frequency sputtering. The T1 measurements were made by a combination of continuous-wave absorption mode saturation and periodic adiabatic passage methods over the temperature range 100--400 K, yielding T/sup -1/1proportionalT2 behavior consistent with relaxation by two-level systems