IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 69, NO.
12, DECEMBER 2022
Design of High-Efficiency SiC Betavoltaic
Battery Structures With Reduced Impact
of Near-Surface Recombination
Based on Accurate Modeling
Chiwen Qian , Hui Guo , Member, IEEE, Chao Han, Hao Yuan , Yimen Zhang , Senior Member, IEEE,
and Yuming Zhang , Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract — Combined with the actual parameters of sili-
con carbide (SiC), an accurate numerical model is estab-
lished to predict the energy conversion efficiency (ηc ) of
the semiconductor conversion device in Ti3 H2 and 63 Ni
betavoltaic batteries with an error of less than 1%. Based
on accurate simulations, novel p-i-n diodes with thinned
p-type region (TP), named TP p-i-n, and with passivation
layer surface field (PLSF), named PLSF p-i-n, are proposed
as semiconductor conversion devices in this article. The
introduction of TP and PLSF reduces the proportion of
p-type region with high Shockley–Read–Hall (SHR) recom-
bination and the electron concentration near the surface,
thereby reducing SRH and surface recombination loss. The
simulation results show that, under different minority carrier
diffusion length (Ln ) and surface recombination velocity (S)
of p-type region, that is, under different material qualities
represented by S and Ln , compared with the conventional
p-i-n diode (Cov. p-i-n), ηc of TP p-i-n increases by a maxi-
mum of 110.7% and 13.3% for Ti3 H2 and 63 Ni, respectively,
and as for PLSF p-i-n are of 134.3% and 15.3%. As a result,
when the material quality represented by S and Ln deterio-
rates, the maximum reduction in ηc for Cov. p-i-n is 10.9%,
while the maximum reduction in ηc for TP p-i-n and PLSF
p-i-n is only 2.8% and 0.3%, respectively.
Index Terms — Betavoltaic batteries, energy conversion
efficiency (ηc ), numerical model, passivation layer surface
field (PLSF), thinned p-type region (TP).
I. I NTRODUCTION
T HE betavoltaic battery, which consists of a radioactive
source and a semiconductor conversion device, is consid-
ered to be an ideal energy source for micro-electromechanical
Manuscript received 6 September 2022; revised 18 October 2022;
accepted 20 October 2022. Date of publication 2 November 2022;
date of current version 30 November 2022. This work was supported
in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under
Grant 62134006 and in part by the Key Area Research and Development
Program of Guangdong Province under Grant 2019B010127001. The
review of this article was arranged by Editor C. Yang. (Corresponding
authors: Hui Guo; Chao Han.)
The authors are with the School of Microelectronics, Xidian
University, Xi’an 710071, China (e-mail: guohui@mail.xidian.edu.cn;
frosemacohan@126.com).
Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available at
https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2022.3216974.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TED.2022.3216974
0018-9383 © 2022 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
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7141
systems (MEMS) [1], and its overall efficiency (η) can be
written as the product of the emission efficiency (ηs ) of
the radioactive source and the energy conversion efficiency
(ηc ) of the semiconductor conversion device [2]. Ti3 H2 and
63
Ni radioactive sources do not emit gamma rays, which are
difficult to shield in practical micropower applications and
have long half-lives. The energy of beta particles emitted by
them is low enough to not cause radiation damage to most
semiconductor materials and their particle range in the semi-
conductor conversion device is comparable to the thickness
of the depletion region and minority carrier diffusion length,
so betavoltaic batteries based on them will have higher ηc
than that based on high energy radioactive sources such as
147
Pm and 14 C. Therefore, Ti3 H2 and 63 Ni are considered to
be the two most viable beta radioactive sources for betavoltaic
battery [3]. Meanwhile, the silicon carbide (SiC) conversion
device is one of the best candidates for forming betavoltaic
batteries with Ti3 H2 and 63 Ni radioactive sources [4], whose
theoretical ηc is predicted to be much higher than that of
silicon, up to 23.5% [5], so SiC betavoltaic batteries based on
Ti3 H2 and 63 Ni have been the subject of much investigation
in recent years. However, the reported ηc is generally lower
than theoretical values, this is due to the fact that the minority
carrier diffusion length (L n ) and the surface recombination
velocity (S) of p-type region limit ηc , and on the other hand,
the neglect of the recombination current component in the
diode forward current leads to an overprediction of theoretical
ηc [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]. Existing studies on
semiconductor conversion device of SiC betavoltaic batteries
are mostly based on the conventional p-i-n diode (Cov. p-i-n),
so ηc cannot escape the constraints of material qualities such
as L n and S. In addition, there are still errors in ηc between
numerical models and experimental results [13], [14], [15],
which limits the precise theoretical limit prediction and novel
structural designs to improve ηc .
In order to reduce the material quality limitation on ηc
and further improve ηc , based on the accurate SiC betavoltaic
battery numerical model, novel p-i-n diodes with thinned
p-type region (TP), named TP p-i-n, and with passivation layer
surface field (PLSF), named PLSF p-i-n, are proposed as SiC
 7142 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 69, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2022

Fig. 1. Schematic cross section of betavoltaic batteries with (a) Cov.

p-i-n, (b) TP p-i-n, and (c) PLSF p-i-n semiconductor conversion devices.

conversion devices in this article, respectively. The simulation

results show that, within the experimental value range of L n
and S, only when L n and S are close to the optimal value, can
Cov. p-i-n have ηc close to novel structures we propose, and
once L n and S deteriorate, its ηc will decrease significantly.
As for TP p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n, the optimization of the near-
surface carrier concentration distribution brought about by TP
and PLSF can simultaneously reduce the influence of low
L n and high S on ηc , and meanwhile, the reduction of the
thickness and proportion of the surface p-type region increases
the ratio of energy deposition of β particles in the depletion
region of the SiC conversion device, thereby improving ηc .
Therefore, compared with the Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n and PLSF
p-i-n greatly improve ηc and its stability when material quality,
which is represented by S and L n , deteriorates, bringing it
closer to the theoretical limit.
II. D EVICE S TRUCTURE AND D ESCRIPTION
Fig. 1(a)–(c) shows the schematic cross section of beta-
voltaic batteries with Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n, and PLSF p-i-n
SiC conversion devices, respectively. Cov. p-i-n is based on
reported optimized design parameters [11], where an N− -
epitaxial layer with thickness (H N ) of 10 μm and n-type
doping concentration (N D ) of 1 × 1014 cm−3 and a P+ -
epitaxial layer (P+ region) with thickness (H P ) of 0.3 μm
and p-type doping concentration (N A ) of 1 × 1019 cm−3 are
grown on the N+ -substrate in turn. TP p-i-n forms an etching
area in the P+ region with a certain proportion (1 −PP )
by adding an etching step in the Cov. p-i-n process flow,
where PP represents the proportion of unetching area in the
P+ region in Fig. 1(b), and the etching depth (TP ) is less
than H P . PLSF p-i-n forms distributed P+ region with a certain
proportion (PP ) on the surface of the N− -epitaxial layer by
ion implantation to replace the epitaxial P+ region, where PP
represents the proportion of the ion-implanted P+ region in
Fig. 1(c). The ion implantation depth and concentration are
0.3 μm and 1 × 1019 cm−3 , respectively, and a thin (Tox )
SiO2 passivation layer is formed on the surface of the nonion
implanted area by thermal oxidation, which will introduce
negative effective fixed charges (Neff ) at the interface between
N− -epitaxial layer and SiO2 [16]. The metals in Fig. 1 all form
ohmic contacts at both sides of devices and the proportion of
metal-covered area at the top side for all devices equal to PP .
Fig. 2. (a) Energy deposition profiles of radioactive sources in Cov. p-i-n
along A–A [see Fig. 1(a)] when the total energy deposition in SiC for 63 Ni
and Ti3 H2 is both 1 keV. (b) Correspondence between S and Ln when
ηc = 18.6% under Ti3 H2 . The comparison between the simulation and
measured results under (c) 63 Ni and (d) Ti3 H2 .
TABLE I
SiC PARAMETERS U SED IN THE M ODEL [10], [11], [12], [19]
The energy deposition distribution by the radioactive source
in SiC simulated by FLUKA Monte Carlo (MC) tools was
converted to the electron–hole pair distribution, and then, this
electron–hole pair distribution was introduced into the Synop-
sys Sentaurus tools to calculate the I –V curves of the semi-
conductor conversion device under beta irradiation, so output
characteristics could be extracted. Combined with the basic
material parameters of SiC, the main physics models applied
in Synopsys Sentaurus tools simulation were Recombina-
tion [SRH (DopingDependence) Auger SurfaceSRH Constant-
CarrierGeneration), Trap (Fixedcharge), IncompleteIonization,
EffectiveIntrinsicDensity (BandGapNarrowing (Slotboom)),
and Mobility (DopingDependence HighFieldSaturation Enor-
mal (InterfaceCharge Lombardi Coulomb2D)] [17].
III. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
Fig. 2(a) shows that the energy deposition decays expo-
nentially and that of Ti3 H2 is more concentrated on the SiC
surface due to its lower average electron energy, which agrees
well with results from other MC tools [11], [12], [13], [18].
Compared with most analytical models, which overestimate
open-circuit voltage (Voc ) and fill factor (FF) due to neglect of
the recombination current, the introduction of recombination
current in the numerical model by Synopsys Sentaurus tools
simulation can achieve accurate calculation of Voc and FF [11],
[12]. Combining the actual parameters in Table I and con-
sidering the external interaction loss (EIL) caused by the air

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 QIAN et al.: DESIGN OF HIGH-EFFICIENCY SiC BETAVOLTAIC BATTERY STRUCTURES
Fig. 3. Dependences of Isc on Ln and S for Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n, and PLSF
p-i-n under (a) 63 Ni (thickness of 0.1 μm and activity of 0.28 mCi) and
(b) Ti3 H2 (thickness of 0.4 μm and activity of 15.12 mCi) radioactive
source. (TP = 0.2 μm, Tox = 30 nm, Neff = 5 × 1011 cm−2 , and
PP = 10%).
gap between radioactive sources and SiC conversion devices
[20], [21], the error between the simulation results and the
reported experimental data is less than 1% for 63 Ni and Ti3 H2 ,
as shown in Fig. 2(c) and (d). Note that neither L n nor S is
given in the experiment for Ti3 H2 , while the decrease of L n
and increase of S both lead to the decrease of ηc ; therefore,
Fig. 2(b) shows the correspondence between S and L n for ηc
to reach the experimental value reported by Thomas et al.
[10]. The area on the top-left of the curve represents that ηc
is lower than the experimental value. It can be seen that in
order for ηc to reach the experimental value of 18.6%, which
is the highest value so far, even when EIL is not considered,
L n cannot be lower than 300 nm and S cannot be higher than
105 cm/s. Considering that L n is always less than 300 nm [2],
[12], [22], [23], [24], while S is between 105 and 107 cm/s
[25], [26], [27], [28], [29] for actual P+ region in most cases,
and also considering the high energy deposition ratio in P+
region as shown in Fig. 2(a), it can be inferred that the energy
loss occurs mainly in the P+ region and its material quality
represented by S and L n is an important factor that causes
the actual ηc to be low and unstable. This also explains the
reason that although Thomas et al. [10] obtained the ηc value
of 18.6%, ηc for another device they test is only 12%, and
this is because the material quality represented by S and L n
of the device with ηc of 18.6% is very good, which is often
difficult to achieve.
Considering that in order to form a high-quality ohmic
contact, H P should not be too thin, and the reported H P
is generally thicker than 200 nm [30], [31], [32], [33], TP
p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n are proposed to reduce the proportion
of P+ regions in this article. Fig. 3 shows the dependences
of short-circuit current (Isc ) on L n and S for devices as
shown in Fig. 1 when the output power of 63 Ni and Ti3 H2
radioactive sources is 33.7 and 658.4 nW/cm2 , respectively,
which remains the same order of magnitude as the literature
[10], [11], and under different L n and S, the Voc and FF of
Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n, and PLSF p-i-n are all within the range
of values, as shown in Fig. 3. It should be noted that, for
the change of body series resistance caused by the change of
P+ region structure and the change of leakage current based
on surface and body recombination current caused by the
change of depletion region structure, their effects on output
characteristics, such as Voc and FF, can be reflected by the
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7143
numerical simulation based on a series of semiconductor
physical models. Also, for the extra series resistance caused by
the ohmic contact and the surface electrode metal resistance
and the extra leakage current caused by nonideal factors such
as the actual material defects and surface damage of the SiC
conversion device, their effects on output characteristics can
be obtained by correcting the I –V curves obtained from the
numerical simulation using a series resistance (Rs ) and shunt
resistance (Rsh ) correction model [34]. Since TP p-i-n and
PLSF p-i-n only thin or remove the P+ region outside the
ohmic contact region and their electrode distribution is the
same as Cov. p-i-n, and considering that Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n,
and PLSF p-i-n are all fabricated using conventional processes,
it is assumed that Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n, and PLSF p-i-n have
the same Rs and Rsh . According to Rs and Rsh of Cov.
p-i-n described in the literature [11], it has little effect on
the simulated output characteristics in this article, so Rs and
Rsh correction model is not used for Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n,
and PLSF p-i-n, which means that the extra series resistance
and leakage current are assumed to be zero in the simulation.
The simulation results shown in Fig. 3 show that Voc and FF
are almost unchanged within the value range of L n and S
for Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n, and PLSF p-i-n; meanwhile, Cov.
p-i-n, TP p-i-n, and PLSF p-i-n have similar values of Voc
and FF, which means that the structural changes have little
effect on Voc and FF, so the change trend of ηc is consistent
with that of Isc . Compared with Cov. P-i-n, TP p-i-n and
PLSF p-i-n improve ηc mainly by improving Isc , and their ηc
stability is also significantly improved under different L n and
S values, that is, under different material qualities represented
by S and L n .
To elucidate the mechanism by which ηc improves, Fig. 4(a)
shows that in the main recombination loss area within 0.3 μm,
bulk hole concentration ( p) is much higher than bulk electron
concentration (n) for Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n, and PLSF p-i-n,
and this is because carriers generated by radiation are much
less than majority carriers, so that the relationship between n
and p is consistent with that of unirradiated devices; then, the
Shockley–Read–Hall (SHR) recombination rate (RSHR ) [35]
and surface recombination rate (R S ) [36] can be simplified
RSRH = n/τ n (1)
RS = ns S (2)
where τn is bulk electron lifetime and n s is surface electron
concentration. Therefore, the way to reduce the recombination
loss is to reduce n and n s near the surface. For this purpose,
without affecting the ohmic contact, TP p-i-n shortens the
distance that radiation-generated electrons in the P+ region
diffuse to the boundary of the depletion region by reducing H p
of the P+ region outside the ohmic contact region. Since the
diffusion of electrons in the P+ region requires a concentration
gradient to drive, the electron concentration in the P+ region
increases with the distance from boundary of the depletion
region, and the decrease in H p reduces this distance, which
in turn leads to a decrease in n s and the overall n in the
P+ region. While PLSF p-i-n completely removes the P+
region under the SiO2 layer by inducing the depletion region
 7144
Fig. 4. Distribution of (a) carriers and (b) RSHR with the distance from
the surface (A–A , Fig. 1) with S = 1 × 105 cm/s, (c) dependence of
RSHR-A on Ln , and (d) dependence of RS on S in the short-circuit state
under Ti3 H2 radioactive source. The inset shows zoomed-in results. (The
shaded areas represent the P+ regions of Cov. p-i-n and TP p-i-n, RSHR-A
represents the accumulation of RSHR within 3 μm near the surface,
TP = 0.2 μm for TP p-i-n, and Tox = 30 nm for PLSF p-i-n).
through the interface charge as shown in Fig. 1(c) rather than
through the P+ region [37], the surface depletion and the
accelerated extraction of radiation-generated electrons away
from the surface caused by the surface electric field lead to
a further decrease in n and n s near the surface. In addition,
since the energy deposition of β particles in SiC decays expo-
nentially with depth as shown in Fig. 2(a), the ratio of energy
deposited in the depletion region with low recombination loss
will increase significantly as the P+ region becomes thinner.
As a result, Fig. 4(b) shows that compared with Cov. p-i-n,
TP p-i-n can not only reduce the proportion of P+ region with
high RSRH , so that more electron–hole pairs are generated in
the depletion region with low RSRH , but also reduce RSRH
inside the P+ region, while PLSF p-i-n completely removes
the P+ region with high RSRH outside the ohmic contact area,
so almost all electron–hole pairs are generated in the depletion
region with low RSRH , especially for Ti3 H2 radioactive source.
Therefore, as shown in Fig. 4(c), RSRH−A of both TP p-i-n
and PLSF p-i-n is greatly reduced, where RSHR−A represents
the accumulation of RSHR within 3 μm near the surface
in Fig. 4(b). Fig. 4(d) shows that R S of both TP p-i-n and
PLSF p-i-n is also greatly reduced due to the decrease in
n s . In addition, with the deterioration of L n and S, that is,
the material quality, the increase of RSRH−A and R S of TP
p-i-n is greatly reduced compared with that of Cov. p-i-n, and
that of PLSF p-i-n is always at a lower value as shown in
Fig. 4(c) and (d), which explains the high ηc stability of TP
p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n in Fig. 3.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 69, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2022
Fig. 5. Dependences of ηc on (a) TP and (c) Np-residue for TP p-i-n. Inset
shows the distribution of n along A–A in Fig. 1(b). Dependences of ηc
on (b) Tox (Tox = 0 nm corresponds to the limit when the thickness of
SiO2 tends to zero) and (d) Neff for PLSF p-i-n and the inset shows the
distribution of n along A–A in Fig. 1(c). (PP = 10%, Ln = 300 nm, and
S = 1 × 105 cm/s for both devices).
Fig. 5 analyzes the influence of structural and process
parameters on ηc . Fig. 5(a) shows that ηc of TP p-i-n increases
with T p , and the improvement for Ti3 H2 is greater because
its energy deposition is more concentrated on the surface.
However, as etching depth increases, the effective doping
concentration of the remaining P+ region (Np−residue ) in the
etching area may decrease since its surface is close to the
junction where Np has started to drop [33]. Fig. 5(c) shows
that ηc remains stable until Np−residue drops to 5 × 1015 cm−3 ,
after which fixed charges in the fully depleted P+ region have
been insufficient, so the depletion region in N− -epitaxial layer
shrinks toward the surface, which leads to a sharp increase in
n in the P+ region as shown in the inset of Fig. 5(c), so a
sharp decrease in ηc . Therefore, taking 0.25 μm for TP is
a reasonable value to ensure that Np−residue will not be too
low. As for PLSF p-i-n, since the energy loss of 63 Ni and
Ti3 H2 radioactive sources in SiO2 with a thickness of 30 nm
is 1.6% and 10%, respectively, the increase of ηc with the
decrease of Tox for Ti3 H2 is more significant, as shown in
Fig. 5(b). Fig. 5(d) shows that ηc remains stable until Neff
drops to 3 × 1010 cm−2 , after which the weakening of the
surface energy band bending leads to n in the P+ region which
increases sharply as shown in the inset of Fig. 5(d), so ηc
decreases sharply. Considering that Neff is generally higher
than 1011 cm−2 [16], it has little effect on ηc .
Fig. 6(a) shows that ηc gradually increases and tends to sat-
urate with the decrease of PP ; thus, considering the difficulty
of process realization, the optimized structural parameters of
PP = 1%, Tox = 10 nm, and TP = 0.25 μm are obtained.
Fig. 6(b) shows the variation of ηc with material qualities,
where the high, medium, and low material qualities are divided
based on the experimental value ranges of S and L n that L n
is often lower than 1000 nm, generally about 300 nm, and the
minimum can be as low as 112 nm; S is often above the order
of 103 cm/s, generally about 105 cm/s, and the maximum can
reach the order of 107 cm/s [2], [12], [22], [23], [24], [25],
[26], [27], [28], [29]. Therefore, in this article, low material
 QIAN et al.: DESIGN OF HIGH-EFFICIENCY SiC BETAVOLTAIC BATTERY STRUCTURES
Fig. 6. (a) Dependence of ηc on PP . (Ln = 112 nm, S = 1 × 107 cm/s
for all devices, Tox = 10 nm for PLSF p-i-n, and Tp = 0.25 μm for TP
p-i-n). (b) Relationship between ηc and material qualities under optimized
structural parameters. (PP = 1% for all devices, Tox = 10 nm for PLSF
p-i-n, and Tp = 0.25 μm for TP p-i-n—low: Ln = 112 nm and S =
1 × 107 cm/s, conventional: Ln = 300 nm and S = 1 × 105 cm/s, and
high: Ln = 1000 nm and S = 1 × 103 cm/s.)
quality is defined as L n = 112 nm and S = 1 × 107 cm/s;
conventional material quality is defined as L n = 300 nm and
S = 1 × 105 cm/s; and high material quality is defined as L n =
1000 nm and S = 1 × 103 cm/s. The star points in Fig. 6(b)
represent the theoretical limit under the current N− -epitaxial
layer parameters by assuming complete collection of radiation-
generated electron–hole pairs. It can be seen that although
ηc of Cov. p-i-n listed in Fig. 6(b) is already relatively high
experimentally reported results so far, they are still generally
low and with a large difference, and this can be explained by
the significant reduction in ηc of Cov. p-i-n in the simulation as
material qualities deteriorate. ηc of TP p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n is
always higher than Cov. p-i-n. Compared with Cov. p-i-n, ηc of
TP p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n has a maximum increase of 13.34%
and 15.25% for 63 Ni, respectively, and it reaches 110.68%
and 134.30% for Ti3 H2 . When material qualities deteriorate,
ηc of TP p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n is always much closer to the
theoretical limit than Cov. p-i-n, which always remain above
84.0% and 93.4% of the theoretical limit, respectively, and
the maximum reduction of ηc for TP p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n is
only 2.8% and 0.3%, respectively, while that of Cov. p-i-n is
up to 10.9%. Therefore, different from that ηc of Cov. p-i-n
is severely limited by material qualities, TP p-i-n and PLSF
p-i-n can weaken the effect of material quality deterioration on
performance and greatly improve the performance and stability
of the betavoltaic battery. The advantage of TP p-i-n is that
when the material quality is relatively high, ηc is higher than
that of PLSF p-i-n due to the absence of SiO2 layer and the
etching areas and photoetching alignment marks can be formed
simultaneously without additional process steps compared to
Cov. p-i-n. The advantage of PLSF p-i-n is its extremely high
stability. In addition, ηc can be further improved by using an
integrated source or operating in a vacuum environment, which
can avoid the EIL between separate radioactive sources and
semiconductor conversion devices.
IV. C ONCLUSION
Based on accurate numerical simulations, TP p-i-n and
PLSF p-i-n have been proposed as semiconductor conversion
devices in the Ti3 H2 and 63 Ni betavoltaic batteries. The
introduction of TP and PLSF reduces the proportion of the
P+ region with high SRH recombination and the electron
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7145
density near the surface, thereby reducing the SRH and surface
recombination loss. As a result, deterioration in S and L n ,
which can reflect the material quality, has much smaller impact
on the output characteristics of TP p-i-n and PLSF p-i-n than
Cov. p-i-n; therefore, compared with Cov. p-i-n, TP p-i-n and
PLSF p-i-n not only have higher ηc but also have extremely
high stability.
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