Abstract: An electrochemical cell comprises at least the following layers stacked in the following order: a first electrode layer, an electrolyte layer, a second electrode layer, a current collector layer, and a protective cover; the protective cover comprising an electrically-insulating material. The cell further comprises an electrically-conductive contact pad that is configured to enable connection of the cell to external devices, the contact pad being provided on an external side of the protective cover that is opposed to the current collector layer, and comprising an exposed surface that is bounded about its perimeter by the electrically-insulting material. An electrically-conductive pathway is provided between the contact pad and the current collector layer, the electrically-conducive pathway extending through the protective cover and contacting a face of the current collector layer at a connection site.

Abstract: A method is provided for fabricating a component material for a battery cell.

Abstract: A method of processing a stack of layers to provide a stack of discrete layer elements, comprises the steps of: providing a stack of layers comprising: #a first layer (20) provided by a first material; #a third layer (16) provided by a solid electrolyte; and #a second layer (18) located between the first and third layers, the second layer having a thickness of at least 500 nm and being provided by a second material comprising at least 95 atomic % amorphous silicon; removing a through-thickness portion of the first layer (20) to form a first discrete layer element (20a) provided by the first material; removing a through-thickness portion of the second layer (18) to form a second discrete layer element (18a) provided by the second material, the second discrete layer element being located between the first discrete layer element (20a) and the solid electrolyte; and etching the third layer (16) using the second discrete layer element (18a) as an etching mask, to form a third discrete layer element (16a) provided

Abstract: Provided is a composition comprising: (a) a principal phase that is provided by a layered mixed metal oxide having a rocksalt structure belonging to the R-3m space group; the layered mixed metal oxide comprising the following component elements: 45 to 55 atomic % lithium; 20 to 55 atomic % of one or more transition metals selected from the group consisting of chromium, manganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, and combinations thereof; and 0 to 25 atomic % of one or more additional dopant elements selected from the group consisting of: magnesium, calcium, strontium, titanium, zirconium, vanadium, copper, ruthenium, zinc, molybdenum, boron, aluminium, gallium, tin, lead, bismuth, lanthanum, cerium, gadolinium and europium; wherein said atomic % is expressed as a % of total atoms of said layered oxide, excluding oxygen; (b) a minor phase that is provided by a metal oxide that does not have the crystal structure of the layered mixed metal oxide, the minor phase comprising one or more of the transition metals contained in

Abstract: A method of processing a thin film structure comprising: providing a thin film structure comprising a stack of two or more thin film layers supported on a surface of a substrate, the stack having a depth orthogonal to the substrate surface; and forming a cut through the depth of the stack by using a direct write laser technique to scan a laser beam along a scan path covering an area of a desired cut line on a surface of the stack to ablate material of the stack along the cut line and through the depth of the stack at least to the surface of the substrate; wherein the direct write laser technique is implemented using an ultrashort pulsed laser outputting pulses with a duration of 1000 femtoseconds or less, at a wavelength in the range of 100 to 1500 nm, and delivering a fluence in the range of 50 to 100,000 mJ/cm2