Degradation of Crystalline Silicon Due to Boron Oxygen Defects

This paper gives an overview on the current understanding of a technologically relevant defect group in crystalline silicon related to the presence of boron and oxygen. It is commonly addressed as boron–oxygen defects and has been found to affect silicon devices, whose performance depends on minority charge carrier diffusion lengths—such as solar cells. The defects are a common limitation in Czochralski-grown p-type silicon, and their recombination activity develops under charge carrier injection and is, thus, commonly referred to as light-induced degradation. A multitude of studies investigating the effect have been published and introduced various trends and interpretations. This review intends to summarize established trends and provide a consistent nomenclature for the defect transitions in order to simplify discussion.