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Technology
We have developed and patented a cost effective and scalable approach to create thin film batteries using vacuum evaporation enhanced by high density plasma. These processes are not usually used in mass production.
Since we are pioneering this approach, we had to design our own equipment from scratch. The Batteries creates synergy of in-house R&D and re-engineered manufacturing process.
The key difference between a conventional lithium-ion (Li-ion) or lithium-polymer (Li-poly) battery & a solid state thin film batteries is the fact that conventional Li-Ion batteries are made with the “bulk” form of material. The structure of such material is not homogeneous and contains significant amounts of additional substances that are required to hold the granules of this material together. This significantly decreases the energy density of the battery.
In contrast to conventional material deposition technology, thin-film technology allows to deposit the material in a high crystallinity form and to eliminate the additional substances from the material. This significantly improves the energy density of the material, and can provide a breakthrough improvement in the energy density, potentially almost doubling the energy density from 600 Wh/l to 1200 Wh/l.
Solid state electrolytes are less reactive than liquid or gel, so they last significantly longer. This also means that solid-state batteries won’t explode or catch fire if they are damaged or suffer from manufacturing defects.
Our batteries are targeted at mid-to-high end product offerings with 2 usage scenarios (to justify sales price premiums):
- Increasing the runtime of their devices on a single charge without any substantial changes to design.
- Introducing radically different device form factors (thinner, lighter, flexible) while maintaining the same operational runtime on a single charge.
Porous cathode structure causes low energy density
High crystallinity cathode structure is much tighter and thus provides high energy density
The Challenge
The commonly used manufacturing process for cathode & electrolyte layer deposition in thin film batteries is magnetron sputtering. Magnetron sputtering is the bombardment of a target with ion beam which is controlled by a magnetic field. While delivering the high quality of material, this technology is expensive and requires high energy consumption due to the following problems:
Expensive sputtering targets preparation
In order to get high energy density, LiCoO2 cathode is commonly used. However, LiCoO2 is a hard, refractory material, so it requires special preparation for the sputtering targets. This preparation is the reason why those targets are more than 100 times more expensive than the battery grade LiCoO2 powder which is used in our targets.
Utilization of material
The utilization of material in the sputtering targets ranges from 50% to 80%. This further increases the cost of production, since most of the material in the sputtering targets is not converted to the final product.
Limited deposition rate
The compound materials (LiCoO2, LiPON) have limited heat conductivity. This limits the sputtering power density and, subsequently, the deposition rate of the material, as a sharp temperature gradient within the sputtering target can lead to its cracking and deformation.
Expensive sputtering targets preparation
In order to get high energy density, LiCoO2 cathode is commonly used. However, LiCoO2 is a hard, refractory material, so it requires special preparation for the sputtering targets. This preparation is the reason why those targets are more than 100 times more expensive than the battery grade LiCoO2 powder which is used in our targets.
Cost of energy, materials and equipment
The Batteries
Excellent
Magnetron sputtering
Poor
Material utilization
The Batteries
Excellent
Magnetron sputtering
Fair
Utilization of materials
The utilization of material in the sputtering targets ranges from 50% to 80%. This further increases the cost of production, since most of the material in the sputtering targets is not converted to the final product.
Limited deposition rate
The compound materials (LiCoO2, LiPON) have limited heat conductivity. This limits the sputtering power density and, subsequently, the deposition rate of the material, as a sharp temperature gradient within the sputtering target can lead to its cracking and deformation.
Deposition rate
The Batteries
Fair
Magnetron sputtering
Poor
Technology benchmarking
Materials
Along with high density LiCoO2 cathode we use a high capacity Li anode. Li anode is considerably more efficient than the carbon anode used in conventional Li-ion batteries. We use LiPON electrolyte which offers low weight, low thickness and high flexibility.
LiCoO2 cathode, Li anode and LiPON electrolyte is an excellent material combination for small batteries. This technology provides outstanding flexibility in designing of such devices as smartphones, tablets and pacemakers. LiPON has also demonstrated excellent stability with only a 5% capacity degradation after more than 10,000 charge cycles. Conventional Li-ion batteries provide only 300-1,000 cycles before showing a similar or greater capacity degradation. This translates to 40-130 times longer lifespan of the battery.
The Batteries uses well established thin film battery design and proven materials. However, our manufacturing process allows for further improvements by introducing new materials and deposition techniques.
