Room-Temperature Micropillar Growth of Lithium-Titanate-Carbon Composite Structures by Self-Biased Direct Current Magnetron Sputtering for Lithium Ion Microbatteries

Here, an unidentified type of micropillar growth is described at room temperature during conventional direct-current magnetron sputtering (DC-MS) deposition from a Li4Ti5O12+graphite sputter target under negative substrate bias and high operating pressure. These fabricated carbon-Li2O-TiO2 microstructures consisting of various Li4Ti5O12/Li2TiO3/LixTiO2 crystalline phases are demonstrated as an anode material in Li-ion microbatteries. The described micropillar fabrication method is a low-cost, substrate independent, single-step, room-temperature vacuum process utilizing a mature industrial complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible technology. Furthermore, tentative considerat…