Accelerated Aging in 4H-SiC as a Betavoltaic Semiconductor Using an Electron Beam System

Radiation tolerance and output power of 4H-SiC p-i-n diodes as a betavoltaic semiconductor are investigated. Accelerated electron aging experiments were conducted using a custom designed electron beam system. An electron beam with beam current of 10 μA and energy of 62 keV, the mean beta energy of Promethium-147, is focused on diodes for electron dosing. No output power degradation is observed with a dose of up to 3 × 10
¹⁷
cm
^-2
. The experiments have demonstrated that SiC p-i-n diodes are radiation hard with beta particles of 62 keV and dose of 10
¹⁷
cm
^-2
or higher.