The phenomenon of the extreme increase of the concentration of dispers
ed paramagnetic nitrogen in electron-irradiated synthetic diamond spec
imens annealed in the temperature range 820-1120 K was revealed. It is
established that the order of the reaction responsible for the decrea
se of paramagnetic defects on annealing at temperatures T-ann > 1020 K
or times no more than one hour is equal to 2, with the activation ene
rgy of the process being E-a = 1.07 eV. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.