Any defects or impurities within or at the surface of the semiconductor promote recombination. Since the surface of the solar cell represents a severe disruption of the crystal lattice, the surfaces of the solar cell are a site of particularly high recombination. The high recombination rate in the vicinity of a surface depletes this region of minority carriers. As explained in the Diffusion Page, a localised region of low carrier concentration causes carriers to flow into this region from the surrounding, higher concentration regions. Therefore, the surface recombination rate is limited by the rate at which minority carriers move towards the surface. A parameter called the "surface recombination velocity", in units of cm/sec, is used to specify the recombination at a surface. In a surface with no recombination, the movement of carriers towards the surface is zero, and hence the surface recombination velocity is zero. In a surface with infinitely fast recombination, the movement of carriers towards this surface is limited by the maximum velocity they can attain, and for most semiconductors in on the order of 1 x 10⁷ cm/sec.

The dangling bonds at the surface of semiconductor cause a high local recombination rate.

The defects at a semiconductor surface are caused by the interruption to the periodicity of the crystal lattice, which causes dangling bonds at the semiconductor surface. The reduction of the number of dangling bonds, and hence the recombination, is achieved by growing a layer on top of the semiconductor surface which ties up some of these dangling bonds. This reduction of dangling bonds in known as surface passivation.