Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2018-2019).

Betavoltaic devices use energetic electrons (beta particles) to create electron-hole pairs in a semiconductor byx000D
impact ionization for direct generation of electrical power. Betavoltaics provide compact, long-life, and highx000D
energy density devices for nanowatt to microwatt applications such as mobile electronic devices, implantablex000D
medical devices, and autonomous wireless sensor networks. The implementation of betavoltaics is presentlyx000D
limited by their relatively low efficiency (<10%). We propose to fabricate gallium phosphide (GaP) nanowiresx000D
on Si substrates by the self-assisted growth method. The high bandgap of GaP nanowires will offer a highx000D
limiting efficiency of about 25% and a reduced cost by growth on inexpensive Si substrates. The beta sourcex000D
(Ni-63) will be embedded in the space between nanowires, using a sol-gel spin-coating technique recentlyx000D
developed by the applicant. In this way, the beta source will be nearly completely surrounded by semiconductorx000D
material, improving the capture efficiency of emitted beta particles and using only a fraction of thex000D
semiconductor volume of existing technology.