Thin-Film Battery Applications

Thin-film rechargeable lithium batteries have numerous possible applications as active or standby power sources for microelectronics. Examples of active power sources include implantable medical devices, remote sensors, miniature transmitters, smart cards, and MEMS devices. Standby power applications include PCMCIA cards and other types of CMOS-SRAM memory devices.

This figure illustrates how a thin-film battery can be integrated with a multichip module. A thin-film Li-LiCoO₂ battery was fabricated onto the back side of the ceramic package. Contact with the circuit on the front side was made by depositing the cathode and anode current collectors over gold-plated through-holes. The battery was designed to supply 150 µAh between 4.2 and 3.8 V at a low current.