Sigma Xi Public Talk
Nuclear Batteries for Long Life Low Power Applications
Presented by Michael G. Spencer, Electrical engineer, computer scientist and Professor of Electrical Engineering,Cornell University
As the power requirements for electronic circuits have steadily dropped, applications for stand-alone systems have risen. Such applications include cardiac pacemakers, medical and environmental monitoring as well as anti-tampering. Implementation of these technologies requires autonomous power in the range between nanowatts and hundreds of microwatts. Beta emitters (radioisotopes which emit only electrons) are safe, have high energy density and are able to produce energy at the microwatt level with long lifetimes (10-25) years and extremely small footprints. Over the last few years, Silicon Carbide semiconductor technology has matured and large area substrates have been introduced. SiC betavoltaic devices are uniquely suited for application as radioisotope converters, and are predicted to have the highest conversion efficiencies.
6:00 pm, Thursday, April 21, 2016
Room C, UNM Conference Center
Northeast corner of Indian School and University
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A schedule of talks within the Department of Physics and Astronomy is available on the P&A web site at http://physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/events/index.php