A method and apparatus for thermal evaporation are provided. The thermal evaporator includes a flat crucible design, which provides an increased surface area for evaporation of the material to be deposited relative to conventional designs. The increased surface area for evaporation means that the more vapor of the evaporated material can be produced, which increases pressure inside the evaporator body leading to increased flow of the evaporated material out of the nozzles. The flat crucible can be attached to an evaporator body of the thermal evaporator. The flat crucible can be integrated within the evaporator body. The evaporator body can include a plurality of longitudinal grooves, which increase the surface area of the evaporator body. The thermal evaporator can include a plurality of baffles which divide the thermal evaporator into separate compartments.

Embodiments of the present invention are in the field of materials, apparatus, process, methods, and designs for manufacture of a thin film energy storage devices with a capacity greater then 1 mA-hr-cm.sup.−2 including thin film Lithium metal and Li+ ion batteries and capacitors having high energy density and high cycle life due to the incorporation of at least one vacuum thin film with respect to protection and electrical conductivity of the electrodes, and at least one vacuum thin film electrolyte for electrical insulation of the electrodes and ion conduction after assembly for low self discharge and high cycle life battery cells.

Various methods and apparatus relating to three-dimensional battery structures and methods of manufacturing them are disclosed and claimed. In certain embodiments, a three-dimensional battery comprises a battery enclosure, and a first structural layer within the battery enclosure, where the first structural layer has a first surface, and a first plurality of conductive protrusions extend from the first surface. A first plurality of electrodes is located within the battery enclosure, where the first plurality of electrodes includes a plurality of cathodes and a plurality of anodes, and wherein the first plurality of electrodes includes a second plurality of electrodes selected from the first plurality of electrodes, each of the second plurality of electrodes being in contact with the outer surface of one of said first plurality of conductive protrusions. Some embodiments relate to processes of manufacturing energy storage devices with or without the use of a backbone structure or layer.

A permeable composite material for making an electrode for an electrochemical cell, the composite material comprising: a support defining pores; and alkali metal deposited on the support within a plurality of said pores. An electrode comprising the composite material is also described, as are methods of making the material and cells and assemblies comprising the electrode.

Implementations described herein generally relate to metal electrodes, more specifically lithium-containing anodes, high performance electrochemical devices, such as secondary batteries, including the aforementioned lithium-containing electrodes, and methods for fabricating the same. In one implementation, an anode electrode structure is provided. The anode electrode structure comprises a current collector comprising copper. The anode electrode structure further comprises a lithium metal film formed on the current collector. The anode electrode structure further comprises a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film stack formed on the lithium metal film. The SEI film stack comprises a chalcogenide film formed on the lithium metal film. In one implementation, the SEI film stack further comprises a lithium oxide film formed on the chalcogenide film. In one implementation, the SEI film stack further comprises a lithium carbonate film formed on the lithium oxide film.

A rechargeable battery includes at least an electrolyte layer, a cathode layer and an anode layer. The electrolyte layer includes a lithium salt compound arranged between a cathode surface of the cathode layer and an anode surface of the anode layer. The anode layer is a nanostructured silicon containing thin film layer including a plurality of columns, wherein the columns are directed in a first direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the anode surface of the silicon thin film layer. The columns are arranged adjacent to each other while separated by grain-like column boundaries running along the first direction. The columns include silicon and have an amorphous structure in which nano-crystalline regions exist.

In certain embodiments, a method includes forming a battery electrode on a substrate. Forming the battery electrode on the substrate includes depositing a first electrode active material layer on a first portion of a surface of the substrate and depositing, to form a current collector, a conductive material using a thin film deposition process on a surface of the first electrode active material layer. The conductive material is deposited over an edge of the first electrode active material layer and onto a second portion of the surface of the substrate, the second portion of the substrate being adjacent to the first portion of the substrate. The method includes removing the battery electrode from the substrate, the battery electrode including the first electrode active material layer and the current collector.

A composite nanoarchitecture unit is disclosed. The unit comprises a columnar film grown on top of another layer where the columns touch each other at the top forming arches having optimized characteristics. This nanoarchitecture unit, called nano-vault, achieves high mechanical stability for films under strong and variable stress action.

A negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery includes a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode layer. The negative electrode layer includes a composite layer and a single lithium metal layer. The composite layer includes, as a negative electrode active material, an alloy of lithium metal and dissimilar metal. The composite layer and the single lithium metal layer are arranged in this order from the negative electrode current collector. The dissimilar metal is an element that is able to form a solid solution with the lithium metal or an element that is able to form an intermetallic compound with the lithium metal.

A method for using an integrated battery and device structure includes using two or more stacked electrochemical cells integrated with each other formed overlying a surface of a substrate. The two or more stacked electrochemical cells include related two or more different electrochemistries with one or more devices formed using one or more sequential deposition processes. The one or more devices are integrated with the two or more stacked electrochemical cells to form the integrated battery and device structure as a unified structure overlying the surface of the substrate. The one or more stacked electrochemical cells and the one or more devices are integrated as the unified structure using the one or more sequential deposition processes. The integrated battery and device structure is configured such that the two or more stacked electrochemical cells and one or more devices are in electrical, chemical, and thermal conduction with each other.