Solid-State Mectronics, 1974, Vol. 17, pp. 109-1098. Pergamon Press.

Printed in Great Britain

PARAMETRIC STUDIES AND OPTIMIZATION

OF THE BETA-VOLTAIC CELL-I.
SHORT-CIRCUIT CURRENT

LAWRENCE S. WEI
Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., Commercial Products, P.O. Box 6300, Station ‘J’,
Ottawa, Canada K2A 3W3

(Received 12 December 1973; in revisedform 3 March 1974)

Abstract-Based on an experimentally verified model, the effects of various parameters on the

short-circuit current of the beta-voltaic cell are demonstrated. The parametric variables used include
electron minority-carrier lifetime and resistivity in the substrate, substrate thickness, surface
recombination velocity, Curie content and junction depth. Computed results indicate that with a
nominal source curie content of 2.8 Ci/cm*, a short-circuit current of 80 pA/cm2 can be achieved when
the substrate resistivity is greater than 0.5 ncm, substrate thickness greater than 180 pm and an
electron lifetime greater than 10 psec. An increase of current to 90 PA/cm* is possible when the back
contact is also irradiated by a similar source; under this condition the optimum substrate thickness is
125 pm. A reduction of the surface recombination velocity at the back contact to lo4 cmlsec increases
the optimum current to 114 pA/cm2 with a substrate of 75 wrn in thickness.

NOTATION time, set

junction depth, cm half-life, years
A” area, cm2 temperature, “K
ci Curie content, Ci voltage, V
d source thickness, cm forward diode voltage, V
D, diffusion coefficient for electrons in silicon, barrier potential, V
cm’lsec average energy for generation of an electron-hole
DP diffusion coefficient for holes in silicon, cm’/sec pair, eV
average energy of beta particles, eV width of substrate, cm
GZj rate of generation of electron-hole pair, cm-’ set-’ distance, cm
Gb rate of generation of electron-hole pairs at back absorption coefficient, cm-’
surface with back irradiation, cm-’ set-’ self-absorption coefficient, cm-’
GO rate of generation of electron-hole pairs at front reflectivity
surface with front irradiation, cm-’ set-’ resistivity, Rem
H(t) specific activity, Ci/g density of promethium oxide, g/cm3
HO specific activity at beginning of life, Ci/g minority carrier lifetime for electrons in substrate,
i,(x) beta current in silicon, A set
I current, A minority carrier lifetime for holes in the diffused
I, beta emission current, A layer, set
LmaX beta emission current at surface of source, A
J” electron current density, A/cm’ 1. INTRODUCTION
JF’ hole current density, A/cm2
When beta particles are absorbed by a semiconduc-
k Boltazmann’s constant, eV/“K
L diffusion length of electrons in the substrate, cm tor they generate non-equilibrium excess carriers in
L diffusion length of holes in the diffused layer, cm the bulk of semiconductor. If these carriers are
m carrier multiplication factor allowed to diffuse to the vicinity of an electric field,
n electron (minority) concentration in p-type sub-
they will be accelerated across the field developing
strate, cmm3
electron (minority) concentration in p-type sub- a current and voltage which can be used to deliver
strate at equilibrium, cm-’ power to an external load. A diode structure which
acceptor concentration in the substrate, cm-’ contains a rectifying junction inherently possesses
donor concentration in the diffused layer, cm-’ a built-in field suitable for collection of charged
hole(minority) concentration in n-type layer, cm- ’
charge of electron, C carriers generated therein. This method of energy
back surface recombination velocity, cm/set conversion utilizes what is known as the electron-
front surface recombination velocity, cm/set voltaic e$ect or the beta-voltaic e$ect, and a device

1091
1092 LAWRENCF. S. WEI

w
that converts beta energy in this fashion is called a
beta-voltaic cell. I ’ RL
The concept of electron-voltaic effect was first n P ;I
briefly described by Ehrenberg et al [l] in 1951 with
selenium and CuO as the semiconductors. Ger- Pm203 I 1 Pm203
L-r
manium and silicon were used by Rappaport [Z] in
1954, and later by Pfann and van Roosbroeck[3]
with y0Sr-90Y as the beta source. In Rappaport’s “2-x
further work[4] on beta-voltaic effect in 1956,
Promethium-147 was used with silicon diodes. (a)
Since then promethium and silicon have been used
in the fabrication of beta-voltaic cells which can be
used to construct nuclear batteries [5-S].
This paper reports on the results of theoretical
analyses and parametric studies on the beta-voltaic
cell based on an experimentally verified model. The
emphasis is placed on the physical processes in the
semiconductor. We shall confine ourselves to the
investigation of the effects of various parameters
on the short-circuit current; the important charac-
teristics of open-circuit voltage and power efficien- (b)
cies are the topic of a further paper[9]. Fig. 1. Beta-voltaic cell, showing (a) physical structure and
(b) equivalent circuit.
2. THE BETA-VOLTAIC CELL
The beta-voltaic cell that we are concerned with diffused side of the silicon is irradiated, while
consists of one or two slabs of radioactive “double irradiation” refers to the case when both
promethium oxide in contact with the surface or sides of the silicon are irradiated.
surfaces of a silicon n/p diode [Fig. l(a)]. The The model we use to represent the operation of
n-region of the diode is a shallow diffused layer the beta-voltaic cell consists of a constant current
(order of 0.8 pm thick) of high doping concentra- source I, in parallel with a junction diode* as
tion (order of 10’” atoms/cm’). The reason for using shown in Fig. l(b). When a high load resistance is
n-on-p instead of p-on-n diodes is to make use of present, all the current of the current source flows
the higher minority (electron) lifetime and diffusion into the diode, creating a forward voltage drop,
co-efficient in the p-type silicon substrate where giving the cell the open-circuit voltage. On the other
most of the carriers are generated. hand, when the load resistance is very small, then all
A typical beta-voltaic cell normally utilizes the the current generated is delivered to the external
front-irradiation arrangement, which makes use of circuit, giving the short-circuit current. The values
only one side of the beta-emitting surfaces. Better of the parameters for the promethium-oxide source
utilization of the radioactive energy can be are taken from published data and are tabulated in
achieved when both sides of the emitting source are Table 1[5, 111.
made use of. Also, more carriers can be generated
when the silicon slice is irradiated from both the 3. SHORT-CIRCUIT CURRENT
front (diffused side) and the back. Both of these The short-circuit current of the beta-voltaic cell
results can be realized when alternate layers of comprises the electron current flowing from the
source and diffused slices are put in tandem. In this p-side across the junction to the n-side, and the
paper, the term “front-irradiation” or “one-sided hole current flowing in the opposite direction. In
irradiation” refers to the case when only the this Section, we shall derive the expression for the
short-circuit current for the genera1 case of
irradiation from both sides of the silicon slice. The
*It is noted that the series and the shunt resistances derivation procedure is similar to that used for the
associated with the diode are left out of the equivalent
short-circuit current in solar cells [12, 131, with the
circuit. This is because for a reasonably good diode, these
resistances have negligible effects on the energy conver- exception that the generation process takes place
sion for the voltage and current levels encountered in from both sides of the silicon slice in our case.
normal operating conditions. We first solve the electron current component.
 Beta-voltaic cell-short circuit current 1093

The standard diffusion equation for electrons in the Table 1. Promethium-oxide source parameters
p-type silicon substrate is given by[lO]
Parameters Symbols Values

D fi_n-40 Average energy EW 73 keV

ndxz T, +G(x)=O (1)
Maximum energy E nlax 230 keV
Absorption coefficient in silicon ck 380 cm-’
where G(x) is the steady-state generation rate of Self-absorption coefficient a0 1300 cm-’
Density Pm 6.6 g/cm’
electron-hole pairs due to beta irradiation and is Half-life 2.6 yr
tE%
given by (A-8) in the Appendix in its most general Ionization energy 3.67 eV
form. Specific activity ;;, 678 Ci/g
With the cell short-circuited, the electrons near Reflection coefficient Y 0.17
the junction are swept by the field in the depletion
region to the n-side. Thus, at the edge of the
depletion region, the electron concentration is 0.8 ym; D, = 0.25 cm*/sec; W = 180 pm; S = M.
essentially zero. Hence [12] For Device 1: Na = 3 X 10’” cm-‘; 7, = 10 psec;
r,, = 0.1 psec. Device 2: Na = 6 x 10” cm-‘; 7” =
n =o atx = a. (2) 7 psec; 7p = 0.1 psec. Device 3: Na = 2 X 10”
cm-‘; 7n = 5 psec; TV= 0.12 psec.
The boundary condition at the back of the substrate In Table 2, the promethium-oxide sources used in
is given by the beta-voltaic cells were 0.8 yr old and the
specific activity at the time of measurement was
548 Ci/g. It is seen that the agreement between
2 = s [n ( W) - n,ol/D, atx = W. (3) theory and experiment is reasonable.

Solving (1) subject to the boundary conditions (2)

and (3) results in an expression for electrons in the 4. COMPUTED RESULTS

substrate, n(x), from which the electron current is In the subsequent computations, we will illus-

[+
obtained (J, = qD,dn/dx at x = a). The result is trate the effect of various diode parameters on the

Goem"" G,,e ar’~“‘)][$cosh~+sinh~]

- (u)+ G(sIDn + a)L. _
_I”=*
oL.--1 W-a
_+co&,~ $sinhy+coshy
L, n n n "

+ GoL,a ena + GhL,a eacamw’.

The same procedure is used to obtain the hole short-circuit current J,. Unless otherwise specified
current in the n-type layer, yielding the curie content is set at 2.8 Ci/cm’; ND =

[G&“” + G,, e “‘“~Y1][$$$‘sinh(a/L,)-cosh(a/L,)]

% sinh (a/L,) + cash (a/L,)

P

The short-circuit current per unit area is the 10” cm-‘; a = 0.8 pm; 7,, = 0.1 psec; su = m; D, =
sum of .I. and Jp; for a shallow-diffused n/p 0.25 cm’/sec; Na = 4 x lOI cm-‘; W = 180 pm;
diode, J, due to the diffused layer is typically one 7, = lpsec; s =M; D. =30cm*/sec.
hundred times smaller than J, due to the bulk. Figure 2 illustrates J, as a function of the amount
A comparison between the measured short- of radioactivity in the source. The limited mag-
circuit currents (pA /cm’) to those computed using nitudes of currents at high activity is due to
(4) and (5) is shown in Table 2 where the devices self-absorption in the source (see Appendix). A few
parameters are: A = 2.85 cm*; No = 10*“cm~3; a = measured values of J, are also shown in the figure.
1094 LAWRENCE S. WEI

Table 2. Measured and computed short-circuit current

Curie content at
beginning-of-life Device No. 1 Device No. 2 Device No. 3

Meas. Comp. Meas. Comp. Meas. Comp.

(Cilcm’) Jy J, J, J\ J\ J\

0.8 27 23 26 23 26 22 PA
1 .o 29 28 28 28 31 27 PA
I.2 36 32 34 32 35 32 PA
I .6 39 41 37 40 41 40 PA
1.9 47 45 44 46 45 46 ,uA

14c
The effect of lifetime and resistivity on J, is
further illustrated in Fig. 4, but with the resistivity
as the parametric variable. It is seen that the
current also approaches saturation when the
lifetime is long. Under such conditions, recombina-
tion in the bulk of the substrate is minimized and
the current is limited by the number of carriers
generated by the beta particles. The case when both
the front and back of the diode are irradiated
(double irradiation) is also illustrated in Fig. 4.
Since more carriers are generated, the current level
is high compared to the case of one-sided
irradiation. However, for short lifetimes, there is
comparatively little increase in the current due to
the ineffectiveness of the junction to collect
carriers generated near the back contact.
The effect of substrate thickness is shown in Fig.
5, for the case of double irradiation. The special
I I I I I I
2 4 6 0 IO 12 case of front irradiation is also shown in dashed
SOURCE CURIE CONTENT (Ci/cm’)
curves for comparison. It is seen that in the double
irradiation case, the current manifests maximum
Fig. 2. Short-circuit current as a function of source Curie values at W = 40 pm for r,, = 0.1 psec, at W =
content for three values of electron lifetime in the 80pmfor r,=l.Opsec,andat W=150kmfor
substrate. See text for details.
7” = 10 psec. These peaks (or maxima) suggest an
optimum combination of lifetime and substrate
It is seen that the experimental data follow the thickness for high short-circuit current. In addition
general trends as predicted by the theory. Also to the apparent fact that the longer lifetime, the
shown in Fig. 2 are data taken from ref. [6] for higher the current output, the long lifetime also has
comparison; the relatively low J, at a particular the effect of broadening the range of the substrate
curie content is probably due to the ineffectiveness thickness for maximum current output, rendering
of the solar cells (which were used in ref. [6]) as less strict tolerance on the thickness of the
beta-voltaic energy converters. substrate.
Figure 3 shows the short-circuit current J,,, as a It is noted that the manifestation of the current
function of resistivity for three different values of maxima occurs only in the case of double
electron lifetime. The small short-circuit current at irradiation. For the case of one-sided irradiation,
low resistivities is due to the decrease of the the thicker the substrate, the higher is the current.
electron diffusion coefficient and hence, the diffu- The reason for the current maxima in the case of
sion length L.. For high resistivities, or low doping double irradiation stems from the fact the carriers
concentrations (p = I/q.qJVA), the current ap- are generated from both sides while collected from
proaches saturation as the diffusion coefficient one side. For a very thin substrate, the effective
approaches a constant value. volume of carrier generation is reduced. Thus, in
 Beta-voltaic cell-short circuit current 1095

RESISTIVITY (ohm-cm)

Fig. 3. Short-circuit current as a function of substrate resistivity, with electron lifetime in the substrate as
the parametric variable. The dependence of 0, on resistivity is taken into account [ 101.

I III I I III I I III I II III

0. I I IO 100
ELECTRON LIFETIME (us)

Fig. 4. Short-circuit current as a function of lifetime, with resistivity as the parametric variable. The
effect of double irradiation is also illustrated.

Fig. 5, the curves corresponding to different values The effect of junction depth on J, is illustrated in
of lifetime are seen to merge at small values of W Fig. 7. The curve identified with rP = 0.01 psec
indicating that the current is limited by W rather represents the current for a diffused junction. It is
than by 7”. For thick substrates, the carriers seen that a deeper junction causes a reduction of
generated near the back are too far away from the current, due to the loss of carriers generated in the
junction to be collected, and thus, the current n-type diffused layer by recombination. The curve
approaches values corresponding to the one-sided with rP = 1 p set and ND = lOI cm-’ represents an
irradiation. For moderate values of W, extra improved n-type layer, which exhibits a decrease
carriers generated near the back are collected by of current at a deeper junction depth. The current
the junction; hence high currents are manifested. components J, and J. are also shown by dashed
The effect of surface recombination at the back of curves, showing that in this case, J, also contri-
the substrate is illustrated in Fig. 6 for s = 0 and butes significantly to the total current. In fact, there
s = 104cm/sec. Due to the recovery of carriers is an optimum junction depth (at 2.5 pm) for
from the back surface at finite recombination maximum Jp; beyond this point J, decreases as a
velocities, high and broad peaks of current are result of increasing distance between the junction
manifested. and the source.
1096 LAWRENCES. WEI

100
r

01-l_‘_
IO 100

SUBSTRATE THICKNESS (pm)

Fig. 5. Effect of substrate thickness on short-circuit current, with double irradiation. One-sided
irradiation is shown by dashed curves.

180
r current, one should use a substrate resistivity no
less than 0.5 Rem, and a electron lifetime of about
160 - - 5.0 10 /.~sec in the base (substrate). The lifetime of
holes in the n-type diffused layer has virtually no
effect on the current, since the n-layer contributes
very little to the generation of current. Putting more
activity on the diode helps to increase the
magnitude of the short-circuit current. However,
the resulting thicker layer of source material
retards emission due to self-absorption thus limit-
ing the proportionate increase of current with
increasing activity. An increase of current up to 18
per cent can be achieved by allowing beta particles
to penetrate through the back side into the bulk of
the semiconductor.
In the case of one-side irradiation, substrates
greater than 180 pm should be used to obtain high
current output, especially when lifetime is long. In
the case of double irradiation, however, there is an
optimum thickness for a particular value of
20 c lifetime. When the surface recombination velocity
at the back is reduced, short-circuit current is
increased the magnitude of which depends on the
I I I,, I 1 III
0 thickness of the substrate.
IO I00 1000
SUBSTRATE THICKNESS (!Jm) A junction deeper than that required for proper
Fig. 6. Effect of surface recombination velocity at the back operation of the cell is not desirable since the
surface on short-circuit current, for s = 0 and s = diffused layer contributes very little to the genera-
104cm/sec and with different electron lifetimes in the tion current, due to the low minority-carriers
substrate. Irradiation takes place on both sides of the
diode. lifetime and high doping concentration therein.
However, if the lifetime is increased and doping
5. CONCLUSIONS concentration decreased, then the n-side also
Parametric studies of the short-circuit current contributes to the generation of carriers and deeper
indicate that to obtain a maximum short-circuit junction (up to 10 pm) can be employed.
 Beta-voltaic cell-short circuit current 1097

80-
N
E
2 60!-
za

h”
40-

20-

I I 1 L-c
O-
O-I I IO 100
JUNCTION DEPTH ( urn)

Fig. 7. Short-circuit current as a function of junction depth for a good quality n-layer (with b = 1 p set
and N, = lOI cm-‘) and a poor layer (with 7,, = 0.01 p set and Nr, = lo*’ cm-“). In the former case, the
current is broken down into electron and hole components indicated by dashed curves. A maximum
contribution by the n-layer is shown to be at a junction depth of about 2.5 pm.

REFERENCES where the numerical factor is the number of disintegra-

1. W. Ehrenberg, C.-S. Lang and K. West, Proc. Phys. tions per curie of radioactive material.
Sot. 64, 424 (1951). In (Al), the specific activity, H, is a function of time
2. P. Rappaport, Phys. Rev. 93, 246 (1954). according to
3. W. G. Pfann and W. van Roosbroeck, J. appf. Phys. 25,
1422 (1954). H( t ) = H0e-0’b91’1~~ (A2)
4. P. Rappaport, .I. J. Loferski and E. G. Linder, RCA
Rev. 17, 100 (1956). and the thickness of the slab, d, is related to the curie
5. H. Flicker, J. J. Loferski and T. S. Elleman, IEEE content by
Trans. ED-11, 2 (1964).
6. D. N. Sunderman, Trans. Am. nucl. Sot. 8, 318 d=C.
(1965). (A3)
ApmHo
7. L. C. Olsen, S. E. Seeman and B. I. Griffin, Trans.
Am. Nucl. Sot. 12, 481 (1969). If the promethium source is pressed close to the surface
8. M. Lewis and S. E. Seeman, Nucl. Technol. 17, 160 of the semiconductor, as shown in Fig. l(a), most
(1973). of the beta particles enter into the semiconductor some
9. L. S. Wei, Solid-St. Electron. further paper. are reflected back into the source. The beta particles that
10. S. M. Sze, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, Wiley, enter into the semiconductor are attenuated due to the
New York (1969). absorption process. Thus,
11. J. H. Jarrett and H. H. Van Tuyl, Promethium
Isotopic Power Data Sheets, Battelle Memorial i,(x)=Ise-ar(l-y) (A4)
Institute, (May 1970).
12. R. W. Rostron, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices ED-19, where Z, is given by (A-l).
1024 (1972). The rate of generation of electron-hole pairs, G(x), in
13. A. G. Jordan and A. G. Milnes, IRE Trans. Electron the semiconductor is given by
Devices ED-7, 242 (1960).

APPENDIX-CARRIER GENERATION
The exact calculation of the beta emission current from where m is the multiplication factor given by
the surface of the beta source is complicated and the
results cannot be expressed in a closed-form expression. E.”
However, if we assume that the beta emission is in the WI =-.
W
direction perpendicular to the emitting surface[4], then
the emission characteristic can be approximated by an From the foregoing equations, the generation of
exponential function characterized by the thickness of the electron-hole pairs in the semiconductor is found to be
slab, d, and a self-absorption coefficient, aO. The beta
emission current at each surface of the planar source is
G(X) = (1 _ y) r3.7 x 101oHp~,(l -e~oOd)ma]e-~x
given by
2a0
I = 3.7 x lO”qHp,,,,A = Gee-“”
(A7)
B (1 - em=@) (Al)
2%
where G, is a constant for a reasonable duration, but it
does change slowly with time due to the time change of

SSE Vol. 17. No. IC-Ci

1098 LAWRENCES. WEI

specific activity of the radioisotope (which has a half-life carriers and G(x) is given by
of 2.6 yr in the case of promethium). G(x) = G&“” + Gbe-=“w-x’
If another slab of promethium oxide is placed on the (A%
back of the diode, there is additional generation of where Gb bears the same functional form as that of G,.