3D GaN-based betavoltaic device design with high energy transfer efficiency

Kasey Hogan; Marc Litz; Fatemeh Shahedipour-Sandvik

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2018.12.032

3D GaN-based betavoltaic device design with high energy transfer efficiency

Appl Radiat Isot. 2019 Mar:145:154-160. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2018.12.032. Epub 2018 Dec 28.

Authors

Kasey Hogan¹, Marc Litz², Fatemeh Shahedipour-Sandvik³

Affiliations

¹ Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Albany, NY 12203, USA. Electronic address: khogan@sunypoly.edu.
² US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Aldelphi, MD 20783, USA.
³ Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Albany, NY 12203, USA.

PMID: 30639631
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2018.12.032

Abstract

A combined GaN 3D core-shell and planar pin structure is being developed and demonstrated to achieve the highest potential to increase energy transfer efficiency from the source (η_src) and power generated per cm² (P_GaN/cm²) in a betavoltaic (BV) device configuration. Physics-based Sentaurus TCAD and Monte Carlo N-Particle extended (MCNPX) software are employed to obtain the maximum η_src and P_GaN/cm² by a parametric study of device dimensions coupled with a ⁶³NiCl₂ source. Idealized structure dimensions are determined to be 2 µm wide, 4 µm tall GaN pin core-shell mesas, with ⁶³Ni source conformally surrounding the structure with a 2 µm gap for maximum efficiency of energy transfer. For maximizing power deposited (10 µm mesa separation) a 3.75x increase in P_GaN/cm² at approximately half the activity density compared to a planar device is achieved for 4 µm mesa height, with 5.82x improvement in η_src.