The growth behavior of copper particle on crystalline and amorphous silicon surfaces has been investigated. The study reveals that the growth behavior of copper particle depends on the substrate condition. When samples are intentionally contaminated in ultrapure water, both crystalline and amorphous silicon surfaces show no difference in their contamination levels. However, copper particles were not observed on an amorphous silicon surface except dipping in dilute CuCl2 solution. The copper concentration on an amorphous silicon surface after dipping in a 0.5% HF solution is similar to the level after contaminating in ultrapure water. The copper contamination level on a crystalline silicon surface, except from CuCl2 solution, decreased two orders of magnitude as compared with ultrapure water. The copper impurity level on crystalline silicon surface was reduced by two orders by cleaning in a sulfuric acid-hydrogen peroxide mixture. The sulfuric acid-hydrogen peroxide mixture cleaning was not effective on an amorphous silicon surface. When native oxide pre-existed on an amorphous silicon surface before contamination, however, the sulfuric acid-hydrogen peroxide mixture cleaning was effective for removing copper impurity. Our results suggest that copper contamination on an amorphous silicon surface have the characteristics of bonding directly with silicon and/or existing in the native oxide, in contrast with the situation on crystalline silicon surface. After contamination with 1000 ppm copper in CuF2 solution, the etch rate of an amorphous silicon film in a 0.5% HF solution was approximately one order of magnitude faster than that of crystalline silicon. This is attributed to the difference in crystalline structure between crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon.