From The Event "Energy & eStorage", 11/9/11.

1. BACK TO THE FUTURE
“THIN (AND SMALL) IS BEAUTIFUL”
DOWNSCALING Li-ION BATTERY
TECHNOLOGY
MENACHEM NATHAN
SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
With acknowledgement to my chief collaborators;
Prof. Dina Golodnitsky, School of Chemistry, TAU
Prof. Emanuel Peled, School of Chemistry, TAU
MIT ENTERPRISE FORUM OF ISRAEL – 11 SEPTEMBER 2011

2. Li-ION BATTERY TECHNOLOGY - THE TECHNOLOGY OF CHOICE
IN MOST ADVANCED APPLICATIONS
In conventional Li-ion batteries, the anode and cathode are “thick films” or “bulk” materials,
i.e. with thickness of 0.1- 0.2 mm (100-200 micrometer) and more

3. BIG and SMALL
200-250 mm 9.5mm
Mercedes S400 HYBRID Sedan Li- Li coin cells
ion battery
First Li-ion battery in a production vehicle - Smallest commercial coin cell
2010 9.5mm × 2.7mm

4. Mercedes S400 HYBRID Sedan 120V Li-ion battery
Cylindrical Li-ion cells
Steel frame

5. WHERE THE EXISTING “SMALL” IS NOT SMALL ENOUGH
Rapidlly evolving world of autonomous “micro-systems” (MEMS)
which need similarly sized power sources (wireless sensor networks,
“Smart dust” concepts).
Small footprint requirements (e.g. in implantable autonomous micro-
systems such as neural neurostimulators).
Fast charge requirements (solar powered consumer electronics) .
High energy/high power combined with small volume and/or
footprint

6. TWO DIMENSIONAL (2D) Li-ION THIN-FILM BATTERY (TFB)
Oak Ridge National Laboratories, USA, ca. 1991
15 µm

7. Li-ION TFB
Characteristics:
◦ All solid state construction
◦ Can be operated at high and low temperatures (between -20° and 140°
C C)
◦ Capable to deliver high current densities due to thin electrolyte
◦ Can be made in any shape or size - flexible substrate
◦ Cost does not increase with reduction in size (constant $/cm2)
◦ Completely safe under all operating conditions
◦ Can be deposited directly onto chips or chip packages (unaffected by heating
to 280°C)
◦ Long (stable) cycle life

8. 2D-TFB COMMERCIALIZATION
INFINITE POWER SOLUTIONS - ca. $50 million investment, limited
commercial sales
CYMBET - ca. $50 million investment, limited commercial sales

9. CYMBET INFINITE POWER SOLUTIONS
Energy Harvesting Evaluation Module IPS-EVAL-EH-01 EVALUATION KIT
(available commercially) (available commercially)

10. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS eZ430-RF2500-SEH SOLAR ENERGY
HARVESTING DEVELOPMENT KIT
http://www.ti.com/lit/ug/slau273c/slau273c.pdf
Uses a pair of Cymbet 50µAh, 3.8V
Enerchip TFBs

11. EXAMPLARY CYMBET POWERED MICROSYSTEM
2011 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference
Gregory Chen, Hassan Ghaed, Razi-ul Haque, Michael Wieckowski,
Yejoong Kim, Gyouho Kim, David Fick, Daeyeon Kim, Mingoo Seok,
Kensall Wise, David Blaauw, Dennis Sylvester
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Uses 1µAh, 3.8V
“Enerchip” 2D-TFB from Cymbet

12. THE MAJOR PROBLEM OF 2D-TFB TECHNOLOGY
Very small Capacity, Energy Density and Power
Density per Footprint (square cm)
8 mm x 8 mm (0.64 cm2) 25.4 mm x 50.8 mm x 0.170 mm
QFN SMT Package 13 cm2
50µAh, 3.8V 2.5mAh, 4V
Capacity: 78 µAh/cm2 Capacity: 192 µAh/cm2

13. THE (TAU) SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF LOW “PER
FOOTPRINT” PERFORMANCE OF 2D-TFBs
GO FROM 2D TO 3D
For a typical substrate 0.5mm thick, through holes with d=50µm and
s=10µm will provide an area gain of ca. 23

14. THE TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY Li-ION 3D-TFB TECHNOLOGY
Standard High Power
300-1000µm
Contact
µ
Contact 15-150µm
4-40µm
µ
Anode
Electrolyte
Cathode
Substrate Substrate
Current Collector

15. THE MAGIC OF TAU’s Li-ION 3D-TFBs
(now under further development by Honeycomb Microbattery Solutions)
Look thin but are
thick… and vice versa:
thin layers are
employed to enable
high power, w/o
compromise on Safe and Eco-
capacity – plenty of Friendly:
active material •The 10m wall
separation prevents
Geometrical Area Gain
thermal runaway
enables Superior
•Eliminates battery
Performances in
replacement – lasts the
Terms of Energy and
life of powered device
Power
Through holes – •Lead free, no
allow cost effective hazardous or
wet chemistry flammable materials
fabrication:
Manufacturing can be
“fabless” and
outsourced

16. TAU / HONEYCOMB 3D-TFBs vs COMMERCIAL 2D-TFBs

17. 3D-TFBs UNDER DEVELOPMENT (3-5 years)
Present HC Enhanced
HC Samples Next Gen performance
AG=23 (MCP,
AG=30)
Voltage 2 2.5-3 2.5-3
Capacity (mAh/cm2) 2-2.5 10 15(2)
Areal Energy Density
4-5 30 45
mWh/cm2
Volumetric Energy
80-100 600 900
Density Wh/L(2)
Power mW/cm2 40-50 (1) 50-80 (1) 800 (1)
(1) 30 sec pulses. Much higher power can be achieved for short (msec) Pulse
discharge
(2) Excluding Package – may add ~0.2mm in each dimension
(3) Charge / Recharge cycles - >1,000

18. PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF TAU 3D-TFB WITH CYMBET 2D-
TFBS IN A TI ez430-RF2500 DEVELOPMENT KIT

19. HONEYCOMB 3D-TFBS vs. QUALLION MINI-CYLINDRICAL
BATTERIES
QL00031 HC Gen 1 HC Enhanced
(3.6V, 3mAh, (AG=23) Next Gen performance
15mA cont.,
0.08cc, d=2.9mm,
AG=23 (MCP,
h=11mm) AG=30)
Voltage 3.6 2 2.5-3 2.5-3
Volumetric Capacity
37.5 93 150 186
(mAh/cm3)
Volumetric Energy
135 186 429 557
Density Wh/L(2)
Current per volume
187.5 320 >320 ~4,000
(mA/cc)
Volumetric Power
675 643 929 11,500
density (mW/cc)
Nominal Capacity
3 (2) 5.2 8.4 10.5
(mAh/cm3) (1)
Discharge current
15 18 >18 224
(mA) (1)
(1) For the same size and shape as QL00031
(2) Requires recharging every 3 days

20. SUMMARY- HONEYCOMB-3DMB PERFORMANCE
Materials, Operating Capacity, Energy, Power,
Item Configuration cathode voltage, V mAh/cm2 mWh/cm2 mW/cm2
thickness
1 HC Present Hi- 2-3 micron CuS 2.0 2.0-2.5 4-5 (40-50)*
Energy cathode,
(AG=10) PVDF-based
membrane
2 HC Future Hi- 3-5 micron CuS 2.0 3.0-5.0 10-12 (40-50)*
Energy – 1st series cathode
(AG=10) PVDF-based or new
membrane
3 HC Future Hi- 3-5 micron mixed 2-3 5-10 20-30 (50-80)*
Energy – 2nd chalcogenide and/or
series V2O5 cathode
(AG > 20) PVDF-based or new
membrane
4 HC Hi-Power 2-4 micron modified 2-3.4 5-8 10-30 500-1000*
Pulse Discharge- cathode
3rd series PVDF-based or new
(AG > 20) membrane
Graphite or lithium
alloy – based anode
5 HC Hi-Power 2-4 micron all 2-3.4 4-8 10-30 100-300
Continuous modified cathode,
Discharge- 4th membrane and
series anode materials
(AG > 20)
Typical 2D
2-4 0.1-0.3 0.25-1.0 0.7-27
Microbatteries

21. PATENTS
US
6,197,450 (Priority date: October 22, 1998)
7,527,897 (Priority Date: October 12, 2003)
7,618,748 (Priority Date: March 13, 2006)
RE 41578 (reissue of ‘450)
RE 42073 (reissue of ‘450)
RE 42273 (reissue of ‘450)
Application No. 20060032046 (Priority Date: October 17, 2002)
Application No. 12/859,297
Non-US (Priority date – same as the US equivalent):
EP Patent 1145348 (‘450 equivalent)
EP Patent 1994592 (‘748 equivalent)
Japanese patent 4555378 (‘748 equivalent)
German Patent AT224587T (‘450 equivalent)
Chinese Patent ZL 200480037093.X (‘897 equivalent)
Chinese Patent ZL200780008458.X (‘748 equivalent)

22. MAIN CLAIM IN REISSUE
A thin-film micro-electrochemical energy storage cell (MEESC) in the form of a
microbattery, said microbattery comprising:
a) a substrate having two surfaces and including a plurality of through
cavities of arbitrary shape, said cavities characterized by having an aspect ratio
greater than 1 and extending between said two surfaces;
b) a thin layer anode;
c) a thin layer cathode; and
d) an electrolyte intermediate to said anode and cathode layers;
wherein said anode layer, said cathode layer, and said electrolyte
intermediate to said anode and cathode layers, are deposited over said two
surfaces and throughout the inner surface of said cavities.

23. CONCLUSIONS
“Made in Israel” basic E-storage technology, vastly superior to state-of-the-
art 2D thin film battery technologies.
Technology scalable to Si wafer-size batteries (mobile consumer
electronics?) and to much larger plastic based substrates.
The TFB field is in its infancy – real applications are 3-5 years away.
Existing Applications (in development):
◦ Solar energy harvesting
◦ Implantable medical devices
◦ Wireless sensor networks

24. THANK YOU