Experimental Simulation of a Diamond Betavoltaic Battery

Diamond single-crystal Schottky barrier mip-structures (metal–intrinsic diamond–p-doped diamond) with dimensions of 3 × 3 and 4.1 × 4.28 mm are fabricated on the basis of HTHP p-diamond and CVD i-diamond. The betavoltaic characteristics of the diamond structures are studied using a wide-aperture electron beam with an initial energy of 110 keV, partially scattered on the way to a converter by a 14-μm-thick aluminum layer and a 17-mm-thick air layer. The maximum generated power reached 2.18 mW (41 mW/cm2) with a conversion efficiency of 2–3%.