Lithium insertion into silicon films produced by magnetron sputtering

Using the method of magnetron-plasma sputtering of polycrystalline silicon target, amorphous silicon films 32–214 nm thick were produced on various (copper and titanium, polished and rough) substrates. A study of their charge-discharge characteristics under the galvanostatic conditions showed that all thin-filmed electrodes are capable of reversible lithium insertion. The amount of lithium inserted in the first cycles is close to the theoretical one. An analysis of composition and morphology of surface layer and also the behavior of reversible and irreversible capacities during cycling showed that the degradation of capacity is caused by the exfoliation of films from the substrate (the effect is more pronounced for the specimens with polished substrates) and somewhat breaking (cracking) of films. The thicker are the films, the severer is the disruption of silicon films in the cycling. The adhesion of films to the substrate surface is favored by the film roughness. At sufficiently high adhesion of films, their electrochemical properties only slightly depend on the nature (copper or titanium) of substrate.