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A novel Ni/Y2O3/4H-SiC heteroepitaxial metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) betavoltaic cell

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Abstract

A novel vertical heteroepitaxial metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) device with extremely high minority carrier diffusion length has been characterized as a betavoltaic cell for power generation in harsh environment applications where solar photovoltaics cannot operate. The MOS structure has been realized by epitaxial growth of 40 nm thick yttrium oxide (Y2O3) layer through pulsed laser deposition on 20 μm thick n-type 4H-SiC epilayers with ultralow defect concentration. A 10 nm thick circular (10 mm2) nickel contact was deposited as the gate contact. The surface passivation effect of the Y2O3 layer and its large bandgap resulted in an extremely low leakage current density of 57 pA/cm2 at a reverse bias of − 250 V which is an order of magnitude less than that observed in benchmark Schottky barrier detectors at the same bias. The thin Y2O3 layer showed minimal absorption of 5486-keV alpha particles when exposed to a 241Am source and demonstrated a charge collection efficiency of 82%, measured in self-biased mode (0 V applied bias). When exposed to a 5 mCi 63Ni beta source, the MOS devices demonstrated an output power density of 11 nW/cm3 and a fill factor > 66% even with a partial illumination. The single pixel MOS devices discussed in this paper have shown a very high prospect to reach the maximum theoretical conversion efficiency of 25% predicted by the Klein relationship.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge partial financial support provided by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), Grant No. DE-NE0008662. The work was also supported in part by the Advanced Support Program for Innovative Research Excellence-II (ASPIRE-II), #155300-21-57381 and ASPIRE-I, Grant No. 15530-E404.

Funding

The authors acknowledge the partial financial support provided by the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), Grant No. DE-NE0008662. The work was also supported in part by the Advanced Support Program for Innovative Research Excellence-II (ASPIRE-II), #155300-21-57381 and ASPIRE-I, Grant No. 15530-E404.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Sandeep K. Chaudhuri, Ritwik Nag & Krishna C. Mandal

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  1. Sandeep K. Chaudhuri
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by [SKC], [RN], and [KCM]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [SKC] and [KCM] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Krishna C. Mandal.

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Chaudhuri, S.K., Nag, R. & Mandal, K.C. A novel Ni/Y2O3/4H-SiC heteroepitaxial metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) betavoltaic cell. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 543 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-09971-x

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