The radiation damage of crystalline silicon PN diode in tritium beta-voltaic battery

A tritium beta-voltaic battery using a crystalline silicon convertor composed of (1 0 0)Si/SiO2/Si3N4 film degrades remarkably with radiation from a high intensity titanium tritide film. Simulation and experiments were carried out to investigate the main factor causing the degradation. The radiation damages mainly comes from the x-ray emitted from the titanium tritide film and beta particle can relieve the damages. The x-ray radiation induced positive charges in the SiO2 film destroying the output property of the PN diode with the induction of an electric field.