Longevity of sensors and portable devices is severely limited by temperature,
chemical instability, and electrolyte leakage issues associated with
conventional electrochemical batteries. Betavoltaics, which operate similar
to photo voltaics, can operate in a wide temperature range safely without
permanent degradation. Though not a new concept, which began in the 1950's
and peaked in the mid 1970's, research has been minimal and sporadic until
recent advancements in ultra-low power electronics and materialization of low
power applications. The technology is rapidly maturing, generating research,
and development in increasing the beta emitting source and semiconductor
efficiencies. This study presents an update on betavoltaic technology,
results from temperature evaluation on commercially available General
Licensed betavoltaic cells, development of a hybrid system for latent and
burst power, modeling and simulation techniques and results, and current and
proposed research and development. Betavoltaic performance was successfully
demonstrated for a wide temperature range (-30?C to 70?C). Short circuit
current and open circuit voltage were used to compare electrical performance.
Results indicate that the open-circuit voltage and maximum power decreased as
temperature increased due to increases in the semiconductor's intrinsic
carrier concentration.
Balanced sampling switch for high linearity and a wide temperature range in low power SAR ADCs