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US 11,538,601 B2Granted
Nuclear microbattery
AssigneeThe University of Sussex
InventorsAnna Megan Barnett, Silvia Butera, Grammatiki Lioliou
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Abstract
A nuclear microbattery is disclosed comprising: a radioactive material that emits photons or particles; and at least one diode comprising a semiconductor material arranged to receive and absorb photons or particles and generate electrical charge-carriers in response thereto, wherein said semiconductor material is a crystalline lattice structure comprising Aluminium, Indium and Phosphorus.
Claims28
A nuclear battery comprising:
- a radioactive material that emits photons or particles;
- and
- at least one diode comprising a semiconductor material arranged to receive and absorb photons or particles and generate electrical charge-carriers in response thereto, wherein said semiconductor material is a crystalline lattice structure comprising Aluminium, Indium and Phosphorus, wherein the lattice structure has a lattice composition Al0.52In0.48P or Al0.53In0.47P, and wherein the at least one diode comprises a PIN junction or p-n junction formed by said crystalline lattice structure;
- and
- wherein the nuclear battery either:
- (i) is configured to directly convert the photons or particles emitted from the radioactive material to said electrical charge-carriers;
- or
- (ii) comprises a converter for absorbing or interacting with the photons or particles emitted by the radioactive material and generating other types of photons or particles in response thereto, wherein the semiconductor material is arranged to receive and absorb said other types of photons or particles and generate the electrical charge-carriers in response thereto.
5 more elements
A nuclear battery comprising:
- a radioactive material that emits photons or particles;
- and
- at least one diode comprising a semiconductor material arranged to receive and absorb photons or particles and generate electrical charge-carriers in response thereto, wherein said semiconductor material is a crystalline lattice structure comprising Aluminium, Indium and Phosphorus, wherein a gap is arranged between said at least one diode and the radioactive material, and wherein the gap is filled with:
- (i) a gas maintained at sub-atmospheric pressure;
- or (ii) a noble gas;
- or (iii) a radioactive gas.
3 more elements
A nuclear battery comprising:
- a radioactive material that emits photons or particles;
- and
- at least one diode comprising a semiconductor material arranged to receive and absorb photons or particles and generate electrical charge-carriers in response thereto, wherein said semiconductor material is a crystalline lattice structure comprising Aluminium, Indium and Phosphorus, wherein the at least one diode comprises a PIN junction or p-n junction formed by said crystalline lattice structure;
- and wherein either:
- (a) the i-layer of the PIN junction has a thickness of:
- ≥5 μm, ≥10 μm, ≥15 μm, ≥20 μm, ≥25 μm, ≥30 μm, ≥35 μm, ≥40 μm, ≥45 μm, or ≥50 μm;
- and/or wherein the i-layer of the PIN junction has a thickness of:
- ≤50 μm, ≤45 μm, ≤40 μm, ≤35 μm, ≤30 μm, ≤25 μm, ≤20 μm, ≤15 μm, ≤10 μm, or ≤5;
- or
- (b) the p-layer and/or n-layer of the PIN junction has a thickness of:
- ≤0.5 μm, ≤0.4 μm, ≤0.3 μm, ≤0.2 μm, or ≤0.1 μm.
8 more elements
A nuclear battery comprising:
- a radioactive material that emits photons or particles;
- and
- at least one diode comprising a semiconductor material arranged to receive and absorb photons or particles and generate electrical charge-carriers in response thereto, wherein said semiconductor material is a crystalline lattice structure comprising Aluminium, Indium and Phosphorus, wherein either:
- (i) the radioactive material is a substantially planar mass having a mass thickness selected from:
- ≤10 mg/cm2, ≤9 mg/cm2, ≤8 mg/cm2, ≤7 mg/cm2, ≤6 mg/cm2, ≤5 mg/cm2, ≤4 mg/cm2, ≤3 mg/cm2, ≤2 mg/cm2, and ≤1 mg/cm2;
- or
- (ii) the radioactive material is a substantially planar mass having an apparent activity per unit area selected from:
- ≥1 MBq/mm2;
- ≥2 MBq/mm2;
- ≥3 MBq/mm2;
- ≥4 MBq/mm2;
- ≥5 MBq/mm2;
- ≥6 MBq/mm2;
- ≥7 MBq/mm2;
- ≥8 MBq/mm2;
- ≥9 MBq/mm2;
- ≥10 MBq/mm2;
- ≥12 MBq/mm2;
- ≥14 MBq/mm2;
- ≥16 MBq/mm2;
- ≥18 MBq/mm2;
- ≥20 MBq/mm2;
- ≥25 MBq/mm2;
- ≥30 MBq/mm2;
- ≥35 MBq/mm2;
- and >40 MBq/mm2.
23 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.