Lithium micro-battery development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Author

West, W.C. ; Whitacre, J.F. ; Brandon, E.J. ; Ratnakumar, B.V.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

16

Issue

8

fYear

2001

fDate

8/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

31

Lastpage

33

Abstract

Recent successes in the effort to miniaturize spacecraft components using MEMS technology, integrated passive components, and low power electronics have driven the need for very low power, low profile, low mass micro-power sources for micro/nanospacecraft applications. Recent work at JPL has focused upon developing thin film/micro-batteries compatible with temperature sensitive substrates. A process to prepare crystalline LiCoO₂ films with RF sputtering and moderate (<700°C) annealing temperature has been developed. Thin film batteries with cathode films prepared with this process have specific capacities approaching the practical limit for LiCoO₂, with acceptable rate capabilities and discharge voltage profiles. Solid-state micro-scale batteries have also been fabricated with feature sizes on the order of 50 microns

Keywords

annealing; lithium compounds; low-power electronics; micromechanical devices; secondary cells; space vehicle power plants; sputter deposition; LiCoO₂; MEMS technology; RF sputtering; cathode films; discharge voltage profiles; etching; lithium microbattery development; low mass micropower sources; low power electronics; microspacecraft; miniature spacecraft components; moderate annealing temperature; nanospacecraft; solid-state microscale batteries; temperature sensitive substrates; thin film batteries; Batteries; Laboratories; Lithium; Low power electronics; Micromechanical devices; Propulsion; Space technology; Space vehicles; Sputtering; Temperature sensors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8985

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/62.942217

Filename

942217