Influence of process conditions on structural and electrochemical properties of lithium phosphorus oxynitride thin films

Lithium phosphorus oxynitride (LiPON) is the most representative solid electrolyte in thin film battery applications. In addition, it has been used as an interfacial protective layer to improve the stability of cathode and anode materials. In this article, we review the effect of the process conditions on the structural and electrochemical properties of LiPON thin films. A common method to form LiPON thin films is radiofrequency (RF) sputtering; much research has been conducted to optimize the corresponding process parameters, such as RF power density, working pressure in nitrogen atmosphere, substrate temperature, substrate bias power, post-annealing, and sputtering target. Many studies have characterized LiPON films obtained with various process parameters, but significant differences have been observed in the reported trends. The most representative difference involves the N_t/N_d ratio, which has been reported to be either directly or inversely proportional to the ionic conductivity. Recently, controversial results have been obtained on the N-based local structure of LiPON thin films. The structural argument relies on the idea that nitridation promotes cross-linking via the formation of doubly and triply coordinated N bridges between P atoms. In addition to further research to clarify these issues, it is necessary to introduce new methods for the interpretation of data based on it.