Buried anode lithium thin film battery and process for forming the same

A process for producing a secondary, lithium based, thin film battery, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising a solid state electrolyte material onto an exposed, conductive face of a substrate, wherein the solid state electrolyte material is a conductor of lithium ions;
• b) depositing a cathode film comprising a lithiated transition metal oxide upon an exposed face of said film of solid state electrolyte material;
• c) depositing a current collector film upon an exposed face of said cathode film layer, said current collector comprising an electron conducting material;
• d) forming a buried anode layer comprising lithium metal between said conductive face of said substrate and said solid state electrolyte material by flowing a current between said substrate conductive face and said cathode current collector, whereby said cathode film layer is oxidized, causing lithium ions to migrate into and through said solid state electrolyte material, thence being reduced to lithium metal and forming said buried anode layer;
• and
• e) maintaining said current flow until said buried anode layer contains a desired amount of lithium metal.

A process for producing a secondary, lithium based, thin film battery, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising lithium phosphorous oxynitride on an exposed face of type 430 stainless steel substrate by reactive ion sputtering from a target of Li3PO4 in nitrogen, thereby forming a lithium phosphorous oxynitride electrolyte film bonded to one face of said stainless steel substrate;
• b) forming a cathode film comprising lithium vanadate bonded to an exposed face of said lithium phosphorous oxynitride;
• c) depositing a film comprising copper metal upon an exposed face of said lithium vanadate cathode film, thereby forming a cathode current collection bonded to said lithium vanadate cathode film;
• d) forming a buried anode layer comprising lithium metal between said stainless steel substrate and said lithium phosphorous oxynitride electrolyte film by flowing a current between said stainless steel substrate and said cathode current collector, whereby said cathode film layer is oxidized, causing lithium ions to migrate into and through said solid state electrolyte material, thence being reduced to lithium metal and forming said buried anode layer;
• and
• e) maintaining said current flow until said buried anode layer contains a desired amount of lithium metal.

A process for producing a secondary, lithium based, thin-film battery, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising lithium phosphorous oxynitride on the exposed face of a type 304 stainless steel substrate by reactive ion sputtering from an LiPO4 target in nitrogen, thereby forming a lithium phosphorous oxynitride electrolyte film bonded to said stainless steel substrate face;
• b) depositing a film comprising vanadium oxide upon an exposed face of said lithium phosphorous oxynitride film by thermal evaporation from vanadium oxide powder, thereby forming a vanadium oxide film bonded to said phosphorous oxynitride film;
• c) exposing said vanadium oxide film to lithium metal vapor, thereby forming a lithium vanadate cathode film;
• d) depositing a film comprising copper metal upon an exposed face of said lithium vanadate cathode film, thereby forming a cathode current collector bonded to said lithium vanadate cathode film;
• e) forming a buried lithium anode layer between said stainless steel substrate and said lithium phosphorous oxynitride electrolyte film by flowing a current between said substrate and said cathode current collector, whereby said lithium vanadate cathode film is oxidized, causing lithium ions to migrate into and through said lithium phosphorous oxynitride electrolyte film, thence being reduced to lithium metal and forming said buried anode layer;
• and
• f) maintaining said current flow until said buried anode layer contains a desired amount of lithium metal.

A process for producing a lithium based, thin film secondary battery precursor composite structure, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising a solid-state electrolyte material onto an exposed, conductive face of a substrate, wherein the solid state electrolyte material is a conductor of lithium ions;
• b) depositing a film comprising a transition metal oxide upon an exposed face of said film of solid state electrolyte material;
• c) lithiating said transition metal oxide film until it contains a supra-stoichiometric amount of lithium, thus forming a cathode film layer;
• and
• d) depositing a current collector film upon an exposed face of said cathode film layer, said current collector comprising an electron conducting material.

A process for producing a lithium based, thin film secondary battery precursor composite structure, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising a solid state electrolyte material onto an exposed, conductive face of a substrate, wherein the solid state electrolyte material is a conductor of lithium ions;
• b) depositing a cathode film comprising lithiated transition metal oxide upon an exposed face of said film of solid state electrolyte material;
• and
• c) depositing a current collector film upon an exposed face of said cathode film layer, said current collector comprising an electron conducting material.

A process for producing a lithium based, thin film secondary battery precursor composite structure, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising lithium phosphorous oxynitride on an exposed face of a type 430 stainless steel substrate by reactive ion sputtering from a target of Li3PO4 in nitrogen, thereby forming a lithium phosphorous oxynitride electrolyte film bonded to one face of said stainless steel substrate;
• b) forming a cathode film comprising lithium vanadate bonded to an exposed face of said lithium phosphorous oxynitride;
• and
• c) depositing a film comprising copper metal upon an exposed face of said cathode film, thereby forming a cathode current collector bonded to said lithium vanadate cathode film.

A process for producing a lithium based, thin film secondary battery precursor composite structure, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising lithium phosphorous oxynitride on the exposed face of a type 430 stainless steel substrate by reactive ion sputtering from an Li3PO4 target in nitrogen, thereby forming a lithium phosphorous oxynitride electrolyte film bonded to said stainless steel substrate face;
• b) depositing a film comprising vanadium oxide upon an exposed face of said lithium phosphorous oxynitride film by thermal evaporation from vanadium oxide powder, thereby forming a vanadium oxide film bonded to said phosphorous oxynitride film;
• c) exposing said vanadium oxide film to lithium metal vapor, thereby forming a lithium vanadate cathode film;
• and
• d) depositing a film comprising copper metal upon an exposed face of said lithium vanadate cathode film, thereby forming a cathode current collector bonded to said lithium vanadate cathode film.

A lithium based, thin film secondary battery precursor composite structure produced by the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising a solid state electrolyte material onto an exposed, conductive face of a substrate, wherein the solid state electrolyte material is a conductor of lithium ions;
• b) depositing a film comprising a transition metal oxide upon an exposed face of said film of solid state electrolyte material;
• c) lithiating said transition metal oxide film until it contains a supra-stoichiometric amount of lithium, thus forming a cathode film layer;
• and
• d) depositing a current collector film upon an exposed face of said cathode film layer, said current collector comprising an electron conducting material.

A secondary, lithium based, thin film battery produced by the process comprising the steps of:

• a) depositing a film comprising a solid state electrolyte material onto an exposed, conductive face of a substrate, wherein the solid state electrolyte material is a conductor of lithium ions;
• b) depositing a film of a transition metal oxide upon an exposed face of said film of solid state electrolyte material;
• c) lithiating said transition metal oxide film until it contains a supra-stoichiometric amount of lithium, thus forming a cathode film layer;
• d) depositing a current collector film upon an exposed face of said cathode film layer, said current collector comprising an electron conducting material;
• e) forming a buried anode layer comprising lithium metal between said conductive face of said substrate and said solid state electrolyte material by flowing a current between said substrate conductive face and said cathode current collector, whereby said cathode film layer is oxidized, causing lithium ions to migrate into and through said solid state electrolyte material, thence being reduced to lithium metal and forming said buried anode layer;
• and
• f) maintaining said current flow until said buried anode layer contains a desired amount of lithium metal.