Dependence of the activation energy of the light-induced degradation reaction in silicon on the illumination intensity

Light-induced degradation (LID) in silicon is one of the major problems in silicon solar cells. A detailed understanding of the underlying defect physics is necessary to progress in silicon solar cell, silicon detector as well as silicon quantum technology. In this study, the impact of the illumination intensity on LID kinetics is investigated by  microwavedetected photoconductance decay (MWPCD) charge carrier lifetime measurements. The activation energy of the LID process is obtained as a function of illumination intensity by varying the illumination intensity and the temperature during LID. It is found that contrary to acceptor-iron defects the activation energy of the LID process does not depend on the illumination intensity.