New Oak Ridge thin-film battery

Oak Ridge Micro-Energy (OTCBB: OKME), a developer and manufacturer of thin film rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, says it's succeeded in developing a new low-voltage prototype battery.

“In addition to the demand for the company’s presently manufactured batteries that operate between 4 V and 3 V, we have identified a growing segment of the microelectronics industry requiring thin film batteries that operate below 3 V,” said OKME’s President and CEO Mark Meriwether.

Inquiries from the micro-device industry prompted Oak Ridge Micro-Energy to launch a project late in the 4Q of ’06 to develop a low-voltage rechargeable thin film battery, the company said.

Earlier this month, OKME reported test results of a prototype battery that delivers 74% of its capacity between 2 V and 1 V. The company believes significant improvement in capacity can be achieved in the near future.

Oak Ridge Micro-Energy develops and produces custom designed thin film lithium and lithium-ion batteries for applications where a small power source is needed. The batteries can be fabricated on a variety of substrates as well as onto chips, chip carriers or multi-chip module packages.

The company's batteries are intended for applications such as wireless sensors that operate in harsh environments, semiconductor diagnostic wafers, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, semiconductor non-volatile memory chips, and advanced medical devices.