Energy conversion efficiency in betavoltaic cells based on the diamond Schottky diode with a thin drift layer.

The HPHT diamond Schottky diode was assembled as a Metal/Intrinsic/p-doped structure betavoltaic cell (BC) with a very thin (1 μm) drift layer and tested under 5-30 keV electron beam irradiation using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The effect of the β-radiation energy and the backscattering of electrons on the energy conversion was studied. From the results obtained, it is shown that, the efficiency of the investigated BC increases from 1.