Design and simulation of a semispherical semiconductor to construct a beta-voltaic battery using c-Si and a-Si:H materials with different doping concentration

摘要

Investigation of beta-voltaic batteries is a multi-aspect problem, because it involves two dimensions: nuclear and solid state. A beta-voltaic battery converts kinetic energy from beta () particles into electrical energy, similar to the photovoltaic conversion of photon energy by solar cells. In this work, nuclear simulation was carried out first, and the results were used in subsequent solid-state simulation. The energy conversion process was modeled and simulated using crystalline silicon (c-Si) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) as beta-voltaic semiconductor substrate. Performance parameters (i.e., open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and leakage current) of the c-Si beta-voltaic battery were optimized as functions of doping concentration and temperature. In addition, the effects of doping concentration and defect density on the recombination rate, e-h concentration, and e-h current density for a-Si:H were analyzed.