Assessment of the electrical parameters in silicon/Nickel-63 betavoltaic battery through the MCNP code

In this work, simulation was conducted to study the transport of beta particles of Nickel-63 in silicon, using the MCNP code at different energy levels, namely monoenergetic average energy at 17.4 keV, monoenergetic maximum energy at 66.9 keV, and general spectrum energy. Energy deposition was assessed at various depths and energy levels in silicon using the MCNP code. Then, electron-hole pair generation rate was obtained. Subsequently, the output performances of the battery including short-circuit current (Isc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), maximum electrical power (Pmax), and efficiency were calculated. Results showed that Isc depends on various parameters including, activity of the source, energy deposition in the semiconductor, and minority carrier diffusion length. It was observed that an increase in the diffusion length resulted in a higher accumulation of energy deposition. Finally, results of this study were compared to other findings, in which exhibited a good correlation.