The radiation damage of crystalline silicon PN diode in tritium beta-voltaic battery

• Published in: Applied radiation and isotopes Vol. 90; pp. 165 - 169
• Main Authors: Lei, Yisong, Yang, Yuqing, Liu, Yebing, Li, Hao, Wang, Guanquan, Hu, Rui, Xiong, Xiaoling, Luo, Shunzhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2014
• Subjects: ESR; Geant4; Radiation damage; SiO2–Si; Soft x-ray; Tritium beta-voltaic; SiO2–Si; ESR; Soft x-ray; Radiation damage; Geant4; Tritium beta-voltaic; SiO–Si
• ISSN: 0969-8043; 1872-9800
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2014.03.027

A tritium beta-voltaic battery using a crystalline silicon convertor composed of (100)Si/SiO2/Si3N4 film degrades remarkably with radiation from a high intensity titanium tritide film. Simulation and experiments were carried out to investigate the main factor causing the degradation. The radiation damages mainly comes from the x-ray emitted from the titanium tritide film and beta particle can relieve the damages. The x-ray radiation induced positive charges in the SiO2 film destroying the output property of the PN diode with the induction of an electric field.
•Remarkable degradation of output property is observed in tritium beta-voltaic battery.•X-ray emitted from tritium source is the main factor which leads to the degradation.•Radiation induced positive charge mainly influences open-circuit voltage and Si–SiO2 interface trap mainly influences short-circuit current.•Beta particle has positive effect in eliminating the radiation damage by x-ray.