Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing

The global demand for lithium-ion batteries has been growing for a number of years, and this growth isn’t going to stop. With over 50 years of experience providing components and expertise for thousands of laser systems in a variety of markets, MKS is a long-term partner to several Li-ion battery manufacturers. We not only offer a full range of products with guaranteed performance, but also have the ability to scale with our customers as they grow.

Lasers Enable Next-Generation Battery Design

Prices of lithium-ion batteries have fallen dramatically in the past decade. The industry consensus is that a breakthrough will occur when the price reaches less than $100 per kilowatt-hour which is yet to come. Compared to traditional methods, incorporating lasers into lithium-ion battery production will help reduce the cost of manufacturing to achieve that goal. There are several advantages of laser manufacturing that enable next-generation battery designs with increased energy densities, tighter packing, more stacking, new packaging types, and better reliability.

  • High Precision: lasers can cut accurately and repeatably on the order of millimeters with no problems in cutting and slitting, which may not be the case with mechanical cutting. As battery designs become more complex, they might be more difficult to produce through mechanical cutting. For welding, the high precision of lasers can deliver strong, micro-welds of miniature components. As batteries become smaller and smaller with higher energy densities, welding with lasers may become more necessary.
  • Flexible & Complex Patterns: enables more complex geometries and higher-performing batteries to be made.
  • Fewer Burrs & Less Thermal Damage: lasers produce fewer burrs in cutting than mechanical cuts do, and for both cutting and welding there is less thermal damage to the surrounding areas. This results in higher manufacturing yields, as less of the material is wasted. Additionally, it can also lead to better quality and reliability of the product in the field, as fewer of these issues will end up in the final assembly.
  • High Speed: speed is always important in production, and laser welding is a very fast process, especially with thin materials.
  • Contact Free: laser cutting and welding are also contact-free operations, so there is no tool wear.

MKS Solutions and Products

We at MKS understand the challenges in Li-ion battery production and provide solutions to help reduce the battery cost. Check out the MKS recommended products below that can help improve the battery performance and maximize the manufacturing throughput and yield.

Challenges in Li-ion Assembly MKS Solutions
Maximizing throughput Fast, high-power laser measurement and profiling
Maximizing manufacturing yield Fast, high-power laser measurement and profiling
Improving battery performance Lasers for foil and separator cutting of next generation batteries
Optics and opto-mechanics to manage the lasers

Beam Analysis

Power level and focus quality of a laser beam directly influence the quality of cutting and welding in battery manufacturing, therefore it is important to frequently monitor your laser power and beam quality delivered to the sample and ultimately to the location of the laser micromachining process. Laser power meters and beam profilers are often used as diagnostic tools either off-line or in-line to ensure your laser is always working within optimized specifications in production.

beamwatch
BeamWatch Integrated provides a full range of measurement results.
Criteria for Selecting Beam Analysis Instruments
Sensor / Detector
Sensors / Detectors
Power Meter
Power Meters
Beam Profiler

Beam Profilers
  • Compatible with laser wavelength
  • Power/energy range/density
  • Beam size
  • Not water-cooled (in some cases)
  • Compatible with sensor
  • Connect to system/PC
  • Track data over time
  • Compare multiple measurements together
  • Measurement of multiple attributes
      - Focal shift
      - Focal spot size
      - Laser power and power density
      - Changes over time
      - Laser propagation characteristics
  • Speed of measurement
  • Compatible with low divergence lasers
Sensors / Detectors
Helios™ Plus
Spectral Range 450-550 nm and 900-1100 nm OP-aspherelens-S
Power Range 50 W to 12 kW
Energy Range 100 J to 5 kJ
Max Beam Diameter 35 mm
Response Time 3 sec
Communication Protocol Options Profinet
Ethernet/IP
EtherCAT
RS-232
Other Features Not water cooled
Meter not required
Compact, industrial package
High Power Medium Power Low Power
10K-W-BB-45
10K-W-BB-45
5000W-BB-50
5000W-BB-50
L40(250)A-LP2-50
L40(250)A-LP2-50
F150A-BB-26
F150A-BB-26
F80(120)A-CM-17
F80(120)A-CM-17
30A-BB-18
30A-BB-18
Spectral Range 0.8-2, 10.6 µm 0.19-20 µm 0.25-2.2, 2.94 µm 0.19-20 µm 0.248-9.4 µm 0.19-20 µm
Power Range 100 W - 11 kW 20 W - 5 kW 300 mW - 250 W 50 mW - 150 W 100 mW - 150 W 10 mW - 30 W
Energy Range N/A N/A 100 mJ - 10 kJ 20 mJ - 100 J 50 mJ - 300 J 6 mJ - 30 J
Max Avg Power Density 10 kW/cm2 1.7 kW/cm2 20 kW/cm2 12 kW/cm2 7 kW/cm2 20 kW/cm2
Max Energy Density (2 msec) N/A N/A 130 J/cm2 10 J/cm2 45 J/cm2 2 J/cm2
Aperture Ø45 mm Ø50 mm Ø50 mm Ø26 mm Ø17.5 mm Ø17.5 mm
Response Time 2.7 sec 3 sec 2.5 sec 1.5 sec 2 sec 0.8 sec
Other Features Water cooled
Cable to connect to meter or PC included
Not water cooled Not water cooled
Cable to connect to meter or PC included
 
Power Meters

Ophir laser power and energy meters work on the smart plug principle. This means that almost any power meter can work – plug and play – with almost any of the wide range of Ophir optical sensors.

Power Meters Virtual Power Meters
centauri
Centauri
StarBright
StarBright Handheld
Juno+
Juno+
EA-1
EA-1
  • Extensive graphic displays on 7-in full color touchscreen display
  • Advanced measurement processing
  • Single- or dual-channel versions
  • USB and RS-232 interfaces, with user-friendly software application
  • Analog and TTL output
  • External trigger input
  • Portable use
  • For transmission checks "in the field"
  • Variety of measurement modes and displays
  • USB & RS-232 interfaces
  • USB connection to use PC as monitor
  • User-friendly software
  • Extensive graphic displays of data
  • Advanced measurement processing
  • Data logging
  • Ethernet adapter enables remote control and monitoring of sensor
  • Telnet, HTTP and UDP protocols supported
  • Interact with sensor through custom software or MKS user-friendly software
  • Data logging
Beam Profilers
BeamWatch Integrated
Spectral Range 980-1080 nm BeamWatch
Power Range 500 to 9999 W (30 kW on Request)
Max Beam Diameter 12.5 mm
Communication Protocol Options Gigabit Ethernet (GigE)
Profinet
Ethernet/IP
CC-Link
Other Features Patented non-contact measurement
Real-time monitoring of beam profile
Sensor for absolute power readings
ISO-compliant measurement results
Fully automated operation
SP932U
Spectral Range 190-1100 nm (Optimized for NIR & Nd:YAG) SP932U
Damage Threshold 50 W/cm2
1 J/cm2, <100 ns pulse width
Beam Sizes 34.5 µm – 5.3 mm
Pixels 2048 x 1536 Effective Pixels
3.45 µm Pixel Size
PC Interface USB 3.0
Other Features BeamGage® software included
UltraCal™ correction algorithm
Measures cross-sectional intensity
72 dB true dynamic resolution
24 Hz frame rate in 12-bit mode
A variety of attenuators available

The recommended products above are the most popular models for lithium-ion battery manufacturing. We have a lot more than these and you can use our online tools to find the ones that best fit your requirements.

Lasers

Laser micromachining has been widely used for high-volume manufacturing to achieve the desired precision, quality, throughput, and cost. According to the type and thickness of material, and the requirements of speed and resulting size of heat-affected zone, select a laser with appropriate wavelength, power, pulse width and repetition rate for your battery manufacturing laser system.

10K-W-BB-45
IceFyre
5000W-BB-50
Quasar
F150A-BB-26
Talon
L40(250)A-LP2-50
SPFL 532
Wavelengths 355 nm /
1064 nm
355 nm /
532 nm
355 nm /
532 nm
532 nm
Power Up to 50 W Up to 80 W /
Up to 95 W
Up to 45 W /
Up to 40 W
Up to 40 W
Pulse Width <12 or 20 psec /
<20 psec
<2 to >100 nsec <25 or 40 psec /
<25 psec
3-6 or 9-50 nsec
Repetition Rates Single Shot to 10 MHz Single Shot to 3.5 MHz Single Shot to 500 kHz Single Shot to 2 MHz
Max Pulse Energy Up to 60 µJ /
Up to 200 µJ
Up to 400 µJ /
Up to 475 µJ
Up to 500 µJ /
Up to 1000 µJ
Up to 100 or 180 µJ
Other Features 24/7 industrial reliability
TimeShift™ technology for pulse control
Laser/controller in single, compact package
24/7 industrial reliability
E-Pulse™ technology for superb stability
Cut separators >1 m/s w/ <25 micron HAZ
24/7 industrial reliability
TimeShift™ technology for pulse control

Optics

To ensure optimal laser beam quality delivered to the material, beam delivery optics is of critical importance. Optics are used to transport the beam to the target position at the sample with the desired beam shape and focus, and can significantly affect the characteristics of the delivered laser beam. We offer a wide variety of highest quality and high power optics and optical components covering UV to IR wavelengths to suit your needs.

Mirrors
High-Energy Laser Mirrors
Wavelengths 355 nm 532 nm 1064 nm OP-aspherelens-S
CW Damage Threshold 3 KW/cm2
Pulsed Damage Threshold 3.5 J/cm2 @ 10 ns, 20 Hz 10 J/cm2 @ 20 ns, 20 Hz 45 J/cm2 @ 10 ns, 20 Hz
Reflectivity Rs > 99.7%, Rp > 99%
Diameter 1 and 2 in.
Substrate Material UV Grade Fused Silica
Angle of Incidence 45°
Spherical Lenses
High-Energy Singlet Spherical Lenses
High-Energy Singlet Spherical Lenses
Nanotexture Surface Lenses
Nanotexture Surface Lenses
Fused Silica Singlet Spherical Lenses
Fused Silica Singlet Spherical Lenses
Wavelengths 355 nm /
532 nm/
1064 nm
250-550 nm /
500-1100 nm
245-440 nm /
430-700 nm /
1064 nm
Damage Threshold 15 J/cm2 @ 20 ns, 10 Hz 15 MW/cm2
35 J/cm2 @ 10 ns, 1064 nm
2 J/cm2 @ 10 ns, 10 Hz /
7.5 J/cm2 @ 10 ns, 10 Hz /
12 J/cm2 @ 10 ns, 10 Hz
Reflectivity Ravg < 0.25% per surface Ravg < 0.1% Ravg < 0.5% /
Ravg < 0.5% /
Rmax < 0.25%
Diameter 1 in. 0.5 in. 0.25 to 2 in.
Shapes Plano-Convex (Standard Product)
Other Shapes Available as Custom Orders
Plano-Convex
Plano-Concave
Plano-Convex
Bi-Convex
Plano-Concave
Bi-Concave
Substrate Material High Purity Fused Silica High Purity Fused Silica UV Fused Silica
1-µm Optics
High-Energy Singlet Spherical Lenses
Fiberlens™ Aspheric Lenses
High Power Windows
High Power Windows
Wavelengths 1030-1090 nm
Pulsed Damage Threshold 20 J/cm2
Reflectivity per Surface < 0.2%
Diameters 12 to 300 mm 21.5 to 55 mm
Effective Focal Lengths 20 to 500 mm N/A
Shapes Aspherical-Plano
Aspherical-Spherical
Aspherical-Aspherical
Plano
Substrate Material High Purity UV Fused Silica
Other Features Coating can be adjusted for other wavelengths (e.g., 266, 356, 532 nm)
Collimating & Focusing Assemblies
Collimating & Focusing Assemblies
Motorized Zoom Lenses
Motorized Zoom Lenses
  • Singlets and doublets
  • Compatible with leading OEM lasers
  • Standard products for 100-, 125-, 150- and 200-mm focal lengths
  • Customization upon request
  • Custom designed for laser cutting heads
  • 1X-4X magnification range
  • Continuous zoom
  • >97% total transmission
  • -15 to +20 mm focus range
  • 0.5-sec focus time for full range

Opto-Mechanics and Positioning

We offer high quality and low drift optical mounts as well as high precision and low deviation positioning stages to ensure long-term stability of your laser system and therefore reduce any potential downtime due to misalignment and drifting errors.

Mirror Mounts
Suprema
Suprema
Suprema_ZeroDrift
Suprema ZeroDrift
INDUSTRIAL_HVM
HVM Top-Adjust
MFM Flexure
MFM Flexure
Ultima
Ultima
Optic Diameters 0.5, 1 and 2 in. 0.5 and 1 in. 0.5, 1 and 2 in. 0.5, 0.75 and 1 in. 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 4 in.
Resolution 50, 100, 127 and 254 TPI 100 TPI 80 and 100 TPI 80 and 100 TPI 80, 100, 170 and TPI
Angular Range ±4° to ±7° ±4° ±2.5°, ±3° and ±3.5° ±2.5° ±7°
Material Stainless Steel Stainless Steel Stainless Steel
Anodized Aluminum
Stainless Steel Anodized Aluminum
Drive Types Knob
Hex Key
Knob
Hex Key
Hex Key Hex Key Knob
Hex Key
Lockable Versions Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Other Features Clear-edge and enclosed designs
Front- and rear-loading versions
Right- and left-handed configurations
Low wavefront distortion versions
Thermal drift compensation
Front- and rear-loading versions
Slim profile
Alignment pin holes
Front- and rear-loading versions
Shock resistant
Front- and rear-loading versions
Adhesive wells for permanent mounting
Extra thick frame for more stability
Clear-edge design
Right- and left-handed configurations
Low wavefront distortion versions
Lens Mounts
multi_axis_lens_pos
Precision LP
OM-5AX_2AX-S
Compact LP
LT_Series
Lens Tube
Optic Diameters 0.5, 1 and 2 in. 1 in. 0.5, 1 and 2 in.
Resolution 100 TPI (Z-axis: 80 TPI) 100 TPI (Z-axis of 9841: 80 TPI)
Adjustments XY
XYZ
XYZ θxθy
XY
XYZ
XYZ θxθy
Material Aluminum Aluminum Aluminum
Drive Types Knob w/ Hex Hole & Knurled Ring Knob w/ Hex Hole
(9841: Knob Only & Knurled Ring)
Lockable Versions Yes Yes
Other Features Zero-free play XY mechanism
Adapters for other optics
Adapters for other optics
Optional lock nuts
Many accessories and adapters
Manual Stages
Ultralign
ULTRAlign
SDS
SDS
Travel Range 13 and 25 mm 10, 16 and 25 mm
Axes of Travel X, Z, XY, XZ and XYZ X
Angular Deviation <100 µrad Pitch: <100 µrad
Yaw: <150 µrad
Bearings Crossed-Roller Ball (Optimized Unique Bearing Ways)
Material Stainless Steel Stainless Steel
Drive Type Adjustment Screw
Micrometer
Motorized Actuator
Side-Mounted Micrometer
Lockable Yes Yes
Other Features Extra thick plates for more stability
Low profile
Right- and left-handed configurations
<20 mm height
Non-influencing locking mechanism
Optical Pedestals
PX Post PX Pedestal
Diameter 1 in. 1 in. with 1.25 in. flange forkless-optical-pedestals
Heights 1, 2, 3 and 4 in.
Material Stainless Steel
Other Features Accessories for varying heights and mounting configurations

MKS Semiconductor Handbook Cover

For additional insights into photonics topics like this, download our free MKS Instruments Handbook: Principles & Applications in Photonics Technologies

Request a Handbook