Light-induced degradation (LID) can occur in crystalline silicon (Si) due to increased recombination in the bulk or at the surfaces. As an example, copper (Cu) is a contaminant that reportedly causes LID in the bulk of Si under illumination. In this article, we show that Cu contamination can also increase recombination at the surface under illumination using surface saturation current density (J₀) analysis. More specifically, in the presence of Cu we observed that J₀ increased from 14 fA/cm² to 330 fA/cm² in SiO₂ passivated Float Zone (FZ) Si, and from 11 fA/cm² to 200 fA/cm² in corresponding Czochralski (Cz) Si after illumination under an LED lamp (0.6 Suns, 80 °C). In reference samples without Cu contamination, the J₀ was unaffected. These results demonstrate that a significant increase in surface recombination is possible without the presence of hydrogen. Furthermore, hydrogen was not seen to affect the Cu-induced surface degradation as similar experiments made with hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN_x:H) did not show further increase in J₀. However, the timescale of the observed degradation was relatively fast (hours) indicating that Cu-induced surface degradation is a separate phenomenon from the earlier reported surface-related degradation.

由于体中或表面的复合增加，晶体硅 (Si) 中可能会发生光诱导退化 (LID)。例如，据报道，铜 (Cu) 是一种污染物，在光照下会导致 Si 体中的 LID。在本文中，我们使用表面饱和电流密度 ( J ₀ ) 分析表明，Cu 污染还可以增加光照下表面的复合。更具体地说，在存在 Cu 的情况下，我们观察到在 SiO ₂钝化浮区 (FZ) Si 中，J ₀从 14 fA/cm ²增加到 330 fA/cm ²，并且从 11 fA/cm ²增加到 200 fA/cm ²在 LED 灯（0.6 太阳，80 °C）照射后，在相应的直拉 (Cz) Si 中。在没有铜污染的参考样品中，J ₀不受影响。这些结果表明，在不存在氢的情况下，表面复合的显着增加是可能的。此外，由于使用氢化氮化硅 (SiN _x :H) 进行的类似实验未显示J ₀进一步增加，因此未发现氢会影响 Cu 诱导的表面退化。然而，观察到的降解的时间尺度相对较快（小时），表明 Cu 诱导的表面降解是与早先报道的表面相关降解不同的现象。