Temperature dependence of an AlInP 63Ni betavoltaic cell

In this paper the performance of an Al0.52In0.48P Ni radioisotope cell is reported over the temperature range -20 °C to 140 °C. A 400 μm diameter p-i-n (2 μm i-layer) Al0.52In0.48P mesa photodiode was used as conversion device in a novel betavoltaic cell. Dark current measurements on the Al0.52In0.48P detector showed that the saturation current increased increasing the temperature, while the ideality factor decreased. The effects of the temperature on the key cell parameters were studied in detail showing that the open circuit voltage, the maximum output power and the internal conversion efficiency decreased when the temperature was increased. At -20 °C, an open circuit voltage and a maximum output power of 0.52 V and 0.28 pW, respectively, were measured.