Lithium Garnet Li7La3Zr2O12 Electrolyte for All-Solid-State Batteries: Closing the Gap between Bulk and Thin Film Li-Ion Conductivities

The high ionic conductivity and wide electrochemical stability of the lithium garnet Li7La3Zr2O12(LLZO) make it a viable solid electrolyte for all-solid-state lithium batteries with superior capacity and power densities. Contrary to common ceramic processing routes of bulk pellets, thin film solid electrolytes could enable large-area fabrication, and increase energy and power densities by reducing the bulkiness, weight and critically, the area-specific resistance of the electrolyte. Fabrication of LLZO films has nonetheless been challenging because of lithium losses and formation of impurity phases that result in low densities and poor ionic conductivities as compared to bulk pellets. Here, a scalable method for fabricating submicron films of LLZO employing co-sputtering from doped LLZO and Li2O targets is presented. A record ionic conductivity of 1.9 x 10(-4)S cm(-1)is measured for dense and uniform cubic-phase Ga-substituted LLZO films annealed at 700 degrees C in oxygen, which is comparable to the values in high-temperature sintered pellets and outperforms by one order of magnitude the latest record for LLZO thin films as well as the typical conductivities in the well-established LiPON electrolyte. This result is an important milestone to realize all-vacuum deposited solid-state batteries with higher power density.