Tritiated amorphous silicon films and devices

Abstract

The dc saddle-field glow discharge system was used to stably bond tritium in hydrogenated amorphous silicon films. A betavoltaic battery is demonstrated using tritiated-hydrogenated amorphous silicon as the intrinsic layer in a p–i–n diode and betaconductivity was observed in a-Si:H:T films. Although the half-life of tritium is 12.5 years, the decay of tritium appeared to rapidly increase the midgap density of states which decreased the excess carrier lifetime and decreased the power from the betavoltaic battery. The betaconductivity properties of the a-Si:H:T film were also affected.